The update was first spotted last week on recent WhatsApp beta versions for Android and iOS devices.
The rebranding is to emphasise the building of ‘metaverse’
WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and other Facebook apps have started showing the company's new ‘Meta' branding on both Android and iOS devices. The update comes a week after Facebook announced that it is changing its company's name to Meta. The renaming is aimed at going beyond traditional social media and better reflecting the company's ongoing investment towards an immersive experience called ‘metaverse'. Alongside Facebook, Microsoft and other tech companies are moving towards developing their own metaverse-focussed offerings. The Menlo Park, California-based company, however, wants to gain the first mover's advantage with its rebranding.
First spotted on recent WhatsApp beta versions for Android and iOS devices last week, the Meta branding has started to appear on the splash screens of the latest versions of WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook apps. The change comes as a result of the announcement that Facebook made last week to go with the Meta title.
It is unclear whether there are any changes coming to the Facebook apps as a result of the rebranding.
In 2019, Facebook started showing its native branding on WhatsApp and Instagram apps. That move was to highlight its ownership of the two platforms.
Last week, WhatsApp Head Will Cathcart announced the deployment of the new branding on the instant messaging app. The executive said that the update is about recognising the fact that the parent company of WhatsApp “is about more than just Facebook.”
“This new name will make it easier for us to explain that you can share a Status you posted to your friends on Facebook (the app), use payments functionality provided by Meta (the company), or a service that's yet to be invented,” Cathcart had said.
Facebook decided to go with the new name months after working on developing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a public letter that Meta will be about metaverse where people will be able to interact with each other virtually over the Internet in an immersive way. He, however, didn't describe what exactly we could expect from the company in the coming future.
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