Google Messages Could Soon Get A Useful WhatsApp Integration (APK Teardown)
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google Messages might soon allow users to initiate WhatsApp video calls directly from the app.
- Users can currently initiate Google Meet video calls, but the service could prefer WhatsApp in the future.
- Google Messages would still fall back to Google Meet if the other user doesn’t have WhatsApp installed.
Google Messages is getting the bulk of attention from Google these days out of all of its messaging apps. With this growing popularity, getting Messages to play nice with other apps makes sense. Google has used the opportunity to tie apps like Google Meet into Messages, but these other apps are often not that popular, leading to a wasted integration. Google could fix this by integrating more popular apps like WhatsApp as a video call solution within Google Messages.
You’re reading an Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won’t find anywhere else.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Currently, Google Messages displays a call and video call icon in the top right of every individual conversation. Tapping the video icon starts a Google Meet video call. If the caller doesn’t have Google Meet installed, Messages prompts the user to install it to start the call. If you want to initiate a video call from another app, you will have to go to that app to start it, which is logical but a bit inconvenient. This behavior persists in both single-user chats and group chats.
In the future, Google could allow users to initiate a WhatsApp video call from within the Google Messages chat. We spotted clues for this integration in Google Messages v20250131 and managed to activate the feature. This is what you can expect to see when the feature goes live:
As you can see, tapping on the video icon will reveal a WhatsApp video call option. Tapping on it directly initiates a video call through WhatsApp, presuming the user on the other end also has WhatsApp installed. If they don’t, you will not see a WhatsApp video call option and instead fall back to a Google Meet video call. Here’s a screen recording of the feature in action:
Note that this behavior persists only for single-user chats. For group chats, you will still see a Google Meet video call. This behavior may or may not change when the feature is released to the public. We also hope to see an option to choose from both, in case you still want to call someone on Google Meet even if they have a WhatsApp account.
This feature is currently not available in Google Messages. We’ll keep you updated when we learn more.
Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at [email protected]. You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it’s your choice.
