Messenger’s encrypted chats pick up user-friendly features

By Michael Allison January 27, 2022

Facebook Messenger’s end-to-end encrypted mode, Secret Conversations, is getting a substantial update today. The company is including several new features that would make the mode attractive to use and bring it on par with regular messages, including typing indicators in chats, reactions, and GIF support.

Secret Conversations debuted a few years ago on Messenger, but it was fairly bare-bones, offering just one-on-one messaging support. The feature picked up support for end-to-end encrypted group chats and calls in summer 2021, and today’s update enables almost everything you want from the regular Messenger app. This includes emoji reactions, typing indicators, GIFs and stickers, forwarding, and the ability to directly reply to messages. There are also media-related features that include the ability to save media and edit video or photos before sending. Messenger will also let you know when someone screenshots your conversation. Secret Conversations are meant to be secret after all, but no amount of encryption thwarts a simple PNG screenshot by the other party.

Facebook Messenger Secret Conversation with new screenshot notification. — Meta

End-to-end encrypted chats are, as the name implies, more secure than unencrypted chats and are used as a selling point for smaller messaging services including Signal and Telegram. The other Meta-owned messaging service, WhatsApp, also has its app encrypted (albeit by default). With the company moving to merge both services, at least on the back-end, having Messenger’s Secret Conversations reach parity with WhatsApp’s default experience is a necessary step. “We want to make Messenger interoperable with WhatsApp, so that you could send messages back and forth again, just like connecting email and different email accounts,” Meta’s Loredana Crisan said in 2021.

With this update, Messenger just got that much closer to being an app you can rely on for regular, secure conversations.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Michael Allison

Mobile News Writer

A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…

News

Calls for Google Fi users on Android are now end-to-end encrypted

google fi call encryption android users end to jpg on

Google Fi is getting a nice security and privacy boost today, as the rollout of end-to-end encryption for Google’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) officially begins. The search giant announced the new initiative in late October, but at the time only said that it would be bringing end-to-end encryption to Android users in the coming weeks. Today, Google finally turned the key, revealing on Twitter it was now automatically securing all Fi calls on Android devices with end-to-end encryption.

End-to-end encryption means that your phone calls on Google Fi will be secure and private from the moment they leave your smartphone to the time that they arrive at the other end. Best of all, there’s nothing you need to do to turn it on — if you’re a Google Fi user on an Android device, it just works automatically in the background. Google Fi will let you know right away when your calls are eligible for end-to-end encryption with a unique ringing tone as soon you place the call. Once the other party answers, you should both see a lock symbol to confirm end-to-end encryption is in place.

Mobile

The iPhone could soon pick up a car crash detection feature that can dial 911

The Apple Watch's Fall Detection Feature.

Apple is reportedly adding an automatic car crash detection feature to the iPhone and Apple Watch, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The feature will debut early next year, likely with iOS 16.

The report claims that Apple will work on using the sensors present in both the iPhone and Apple Watch to detect "a sudden spike in gravity," the same way Apple's Watch works at the moment for fall detection. There are no details on how it would be implemented, but likely a notification will pop up, and if the user does not respond to a notification in a timely manner, then the phone will automatically dial 911 or other emergency services. This is how the Apple Watch's fall detection feature functions.

Mobile

Instagram’s newest feature will let you know when it does go down

Instagram login screen.

Instagram (and other Facebook services) suffered an extended outage last week that lasted multiple hours and briefly caused chaos across the internet, particularly in developing countries. Today, the company announced an update coming to its mobile app, letting users know when an outage is experienced.

This test is a U.S.-only one for the most part, and Facebook isn't making any promises that it'll make it permanent, only that it'll be evaluating the results and see if it makes sense to expand it in the future.