Facebook rolled out end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls on Messenger, adding another layer of privacy to its widely used communications platform. The company made this known in a blog post.
End-to-end encryption is already widely used by apps like WhatsApp to keep personal conversations safe from hackers and criminals. It is becoming the industry standard and works like a lock and key, where just you and the people in the chat or call have access to the conversation.
Users can now call Messenger contacts using voice or video with end-to-end encryption enabled. The end-to-end encryption is an extra layer of protection to your voice and video conversations on Messenger.
According to the post, 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 has some other end-to-end features coming in a few weeks for group chats and calls in Messenger.
Updated controls over Disappearing Messages
Facebook has also updated controls for disappearing messages, you can now activate disappearing messages for everyone in a chat. Users now have more control over how long messages are viewed and when they disappear. “We’ve updated this setting to provide more options for people in the chat to choose the amount of time before all new messages disappear, from as few as 5 seconds to as long as 24 hours,” they said.
The company also added, “We’ll also kick off a limited test with adults in certain countries that lets them opt-in to end-to-end encrypted messages and calls for one-on-one conversations on Instagram.”