Meta’s Messenger is one of the world’s most common ways to send messages with contacts, now the company has said it will roll out end-to-end (E2E) encryption for all personal chats and calls on Messenger and Facebook.
To be clear, encryption has been available on these platforms for a while but this latest news means the feature is switched on by default for personal messages and calls. Under the new scheme, messages that you send are protected from the moment they leave your device to the moment they reach your contact’s device, preventing any middlemen, including Meta, from seeing what you said.
In the past when messaging clients had or added encryption, it sometimes meant a more restrictive experience in terms of features. With this launch, Meta said that users will retain familiar features like themes and custom reactions but will also get a bunch of new features too including edited and disappearing messages, read receipts control, improved photo and video sending, and improved voice messaging.
With message editing, Meta is striking a balance. You will only be able to edit messages for 15 minutes after sending them and if you want to report someone’s original message before they edited it then Meta will be able to read the message edit history.
With disappearing messages, they will now last 24 hours after being sent and the chat interface has been updated to inform users that the messages will disappear. As for read receipts control, you’ll be able to decide if you want to let others see that you’ve read their messages. This will reduce the pressure to respond to people right away if you don’t feel like it.
When you get the update, you’ll also benefit from higher image quality and improved responding or reacting to any photo or video in a collection. Meta said it’s also testing HD media and file sharing improvements with some users and plans to scale this in the coming months.
Finally, Meta said that voice messaging is the fastest growing messaging format today and with this update you’ll be able to listen at 1.5x and 2x speeds as well as begin listening where you left so you can pick up again if you have to leave the app.
The roll out will take several months until everyone gets it but when you do, you’ll need to set up a recovery method, such as a pin, to restore your messages if you lose, change, or add a device.
