Facebook Messenger finally gains end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls

Facebook has announced support for end-to-end encrypted video calls and audio calls and updated controls for disappearing messages on the Messenger app. In addition, the social media giant also plans to introduce the new changes on Instagram direct messages in the coming weeks.

Facebook is adding end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls on Messenger

In a blog post, the company said it extending end-to-end encryption to both voice and video calls on Messenger meaning “nobody else, including Facebook, can see or listen to what’s sent or said.”

Since 2016, we’ve offered the option to secure your one-on-one text chats with end-to-end encryption. In the past year, we’ve seen a surge in the use of audio and video calling with more than 150 million video calls a day on Messenger. Now we’re introducing calling to this chat mode so you can secure your audio and video calls with this same technology, if you choose.

The content of your messages and calls in an end-to-end encrypted conversation is protected from the moment it leaves your device to the moment it reaches the receiver’s device. This means that nobody else, including Facebook, can see or listen to what’s sent or said. Keep in mind, you can report an end-to-end encrypted message to us if something’s wrong.

In addition to this, the company has started rolling out support for end-to-end encrypted calls for a “limited test” group of adults in “certain countries” for Instagram direct messages. Users need to have an existing chat or be following each other to start an end-to-end encrypted DM.

Lastly, Facebook is also updating the controls over Disappearing Messages. The company says “people don’t always want or need their messages to stick around and the timer controls let someone decide when their messages expire in the chat.” So, it has updated this setting to provide more options for users to choose the amount of time before all new messages disappear, from as few as 5 seconds to as long as 24 hours.