Facebook is a social media platform that is actively used by billions of people around the globe. It is not only a way to stay updated with the latest happenings near and far from you, but also a way to stay in touch with those close to you. To that end, Meta has now announced a bunch of updates for end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) chats on its Messenger platform to facilitate such use-cases.
Following its announcement from last year that testing had begun for E2EE group chats and voice calls, Meta has now announced that the feature is now available for everyone, and is opt-in. In addition, the company will now inform you if it detects that someone has taken a screenshot of your disappearing message.
Some other capabilities coming over to E2EE chats are GIFs, Stickers, Reactions, and Verified Badges. Additionally, you will now be able to reply to specific messages, get indicators when someone is typing, and forward messages too. Media in E2EE chats can now be saved, and before you send any media content, you also have the option to edit and personalize it with Stickers, scribbles, cropping, and audio edits.
E2EE conversations are opt-in for now, but the idea is to make them the default experience for users in the coming months and years. The latest string of enhancements is just another step in bridging the gap between the traditional Messenger experience and E2EE conversations.