For some reason it works for eastern people but barely for westerners. Every product made had more success with an additional web app. I always assumed it's because bots look all the same, it's hard to find scam indicators.
WeChat has had this for years (and other messengers in South Wast Asia).
I have no idea why in-chat apps were never successfully implemented in the "West". There were minimal attempts by bot Apple and Facebook to add apps to their chats, but at best it's "let's add stickers"
Walled gardens and controlled ecosystems are horrible and concentrate power in the gatekeepers.
I hope the experience is kludgy and user unfriendly to the point that startups not contained in the straightjackets of other systems continue to win out.
When I had to use it on my first visit to China, I couldn't possibly believe this is an app that people are actually using day to day. Slow, sluggish, graphical artifacts, NPEs.
Then I learned that the "Western" version is totally different, so I believe the real WeChat is a usable product and in par with whatsapp and telegram