All your conversations in Messenger will soon be fully protected. Meta has just announced its intention to apply end-to-end encryption by default for all conversations in Facebook’s instant messenger.
Everything you say in Messenger will soon be private. This is the promise made by Meta, which indicated in a press release that it is in the process of extending its test of end-to-end encryption by default in all discussions, and this, for all of its users. Facebook’s parent company also explains that it also plans to apply this encryption to all your old conversations.
End-to-end encryption finally for everyone
Encrypting conversations in Messenger has a long history. Originally launched in 2016, the feature then called “secret conversations” had to be activated manually by the user. Conversations were therefore not encrypted by default. But faced with the generalization of end-to-end encryption, Meta began to think about a solution to find the perfect balance between privacy and the fight against cybercrime, which somewhat delayed its ambitions.
Things only finally cleared up late last summer when Meta officially began testing end-to-end encryption by default on Messenger with a select group of users. After several months of testing, Meta will finally gradually expand it for all users. All the conversations you have in Messenger will therefore be readable by you alone. Facebook’s parent company has even planned to go even further. Indeed, Meta explained that over the next few months, all chats, even old ones, will automatically benefit from this additional layer of security. Messenger users will see a notification in each chat that has been automatically encrypted.
New features in conversations
The arrival of end-to-end encryption by default in all Messenger conversations was above all an opportunity for Meta to present several new features to come in encrypted discussions. For example, you can customize them by applying a theme, use emojis in response to messages, or even assign a profile picture to each encrypted discussion group. Meta has also modified the preview of links published in encrypted conversations, and added a status indicator notifying your correspondents of your online presence or not. Finally, on Android, end-to-end encrypted conversations will finally be able to display in bubbles to allow you to open the discussion and respond quickly, as is already the case for unencrypted discussions.
Meta
