Facebook has updated the end-to-end encryption features in Messenger to provide users with more secure voice and video calling capabilities.
Messenger has been offering support for end-to-end encrypted text chats for roughly five years, and Facebook has decided to expand the security feature to voice and video calling as well, after observing an increase in the use of these capabilities over the past year.
With other messaging services out there offering end-to-end encryption as standard, including the Facebook-owned WhatsApp, it was only a matter of time before the social media platform would improve the security and privacy of Messenger as well.
With end-to-end encryption in place, chats are only accessible to the people who are engaged in the conversation, not to eavesdroppers as well.
“The content of your messages and calls in an end-to-end encrypted conversation is protected from the moment it leaves your device to the moment it reaches the receiver’s device. This means that nobody else, including Facebook, can see or listen to what’s sent or said,” Facebook explains.
Additionally, Facebook is updating the control users have over disappearing messages, which are messages that are set to expire after a specific period of time. Now, users can set the period of time after which the messages disappear to any interval between 5 seconds and 24 hours.
Facebook also says it plans to roll out additional security features in Messenger in the coming weeks, including end-to-end encrypted group chats and calls (both voice and video calls), and that it will start testing delivery controls for end-to-end encrypted chats.
“That way, you can prevent unwanted interactions by deciding who can reach your chats list, who goes to your requests folder, and who can’t message you at all,” the social platform explains.
Furthermore, the company will start a limited test campaign allowing adult users to opt-in to end-to-end encrypted messages and calls on Instagram, but only for one-on-one conversations.
The feature will be available to conversation partners who already have an existing chat or who are following each other.
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