Facebook Messenger just got a whole lot safer.
Meta recently added new features allowing users to better enjoy its encrypted messages feature, along with further testing default end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for more people in Messenger.
Meta first added encrypted messages via its Secret Conversations feature in 2016 but only started testing to make it default in 2022, with the August 2022 test being the latest, per The Verge.
Facebook Messenger App Encrypted Messages New Features
Facebook Messenger's encrypted messages feature is getting a bunch of new features. According to Facebook's blog post, end-to-end encrypted group chats and calls on Messenger are now available for everyone, allowing users to connect to their friends and loved ones privately and securely.
Speaking of encrypted group chats, Messenger users can now put group profile photos to help them differentiate and personalize their encrypted group chats from the others they are in.
Aside from those, it also added screenshot notifications that let the other side of the conversation know if you took a screenshot of what is supposed to be a private and secure conversation.
Facebook mentioned that it thought it was important that people could use encrypted chats and feel safe. As such, it wants to keep people informed if anyone takes screenshots of their disappearing messages.
Encrypted chats can now use GIFs and stickers to let people express themselves through them.
Facebook said it rebuilt its link previews to make them available for encrypted chats, allowing users to see where a link would take them before clicking or tapping on it.
People's "Active" status will also be viewable on Messenger's encrypted messages feature, but it can also be turned off if people want to keep others from knowing they are online.
Facebook also added a new feature called "Bubbles" to Android users, giving them the ability to read and reply to messages while they're using other apps once it's enabled.
Meta Default E2EE Messaging Details
Most, if not all, of these features are already in Messenger proper, but their addition to encrypted messages may be in preparation for making encrypted chats the default way to talk to people using the app.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in a post that the company is ramping up testing default E2EE through a team of engineers, cryptologists, designers, and policy experts that are committed to rolling out the feature soon.
According to CNET and Engadget, people will see changes to some conversation threads in the next few months, along with an alert that a one-to-one conversation changed to accommodate E2EE.
A Meta spokesperson stated that encrypted messages will still support any device the service is being used on and won't be subject to device limits as some secure messaging apps, like Signal, normally do.
This statement, if it holds, puts Messenger on par with Meta's other secure messaging app, WhatsApp, which already features encrypted messages by default across all four registered devices in addition to a person's phone.
