Meta recently announced the move to switch some user conversations to use encryption and roll out more features.
On its blog, Meta announced that it would introduce more features to end-to-end encrypted chats that users currently prefer to use in casual chats. New features include custom themes, emojis and reactions, group profile pictures, link previews, activity status, and chat shadows on Android.
Meta says it has begun expanding testing of default end-to-end encryption for Messenger . It built a team of engineers, cryptographers, designers, and policy experts to implement default end-to-end encryption on Messenger.
Over the next few months, many will continue to see chats gradually upgraded with an additional layer of protection from end-to-end encryption. Meta says the testing of users will be random so there is no negative impact on the company’s infrastructure and people’s chat experience.
Messenger’s encrypted chats are designed to hide them from third parties, including Facebook itself. It is promised to make it more difficult for law enforcement and hackers to access the messages users are sending and receiving. WhatsApp already has this feature by default, and Instagram allows people to enable encryption for individual chats.
Previously, Meta did not offer a solution to customize encrypted chats. When switching to a secret chat, all options will disappear, the user is left with a chat screen with a simple white background.