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One of the selling points of Meta-owned WhatsApp is end-to-end encryption. Oddly enough, this is a feature not available on Messenger, also owned by Meta. The good news is that Facebook has started to test the feature, but in the meantime if you want to make sure your conversations are end-to-end encrypted, here’s how.
What is end-to-end encryption?
We’re sure that many of you might have heard of encryption before, where the data is scrambled so that if someone looks at it, it makes no sense until it has been decrypted.
With end-to-end encryption, it means that the encryption takes place on one device so that during transmission, even if it were to be intercepted, it would not be readable. It only decrypts itself once it arrives at its intended destination.
With regards to messenger apps that utilize this feature, it means that even if someone were to steal your phone, unless they have your passcode or biometrics to unlock it, your messages are encrypted. End-to-end encryption also means that governments or law enforcement agencies who request the data from the developers will not be able to get their hands on it as the company, like Meta, wouldn’t be able to decrypt it either.
Enable end-to-end encryption in Messenger
- Launch the Messenger app on your phone
- Tap the profile icon of the contact you want to enable end-to-end encryption with
- When the chat is open, tap their profile icon again
- Go to “More Actions”
- Tap “Go to secret conversation”
Keep in mind that right now, Secret Conversations are the only way that you can get end-to-end encrypted messages with Messenger. We imagine that in the future once Facebook enables end-to-end encryption in general, this workaround will no longer be necessary.
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