• Over the next few months, more users will continue seeing some of their chats gradually being upgraded with an extra layer of protection.
• Meta product manager Melissa Miranda said through a post that they will notify people in these individual chat threads as they are upgraded.
Image: FILE
Meta has introduced some features for end-to-end encrypted chats for Messenger.
In a Facebook post made by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the new features include link previews, custom emojis as well as themes.
“We're ramping up testing default end-to-end encryption for more people in Messenger too,” Zuckerberg said.
Meta has added chat themes to help personalise and enhance conversations in end-to-end encrypted chats.
Users can set themes ranging from static colour to gradient themes.
On Messenger, users can also customise chat emojis and reactions as they can see the full menu of emoji reactions and tailor-make the quick reaction tray.
Meta has also rebuilt link previews for end-to-end encrypted chats so that a user can see where a link takes them before clicking on the link.
The active status update allows people to see when a user is active so they know when it’s a good time to call.
This feature can be turned off to improve privacy.
Group profile photos can be chosen for different chats with friends or work colleagues and bubbles on android lets a user read and reply to messages while using other apps.
Once enabled, a bubble (a circle with your friend’s picture) will appear when getting a new message.
Meta has also started gradually expanding testing default end-to-end encryption for Messenger.
“We know people want a space to connect and they want to know that those conversations are private, safe and secure. That is why we’ve spent time building a team of talented engineers, cryptologists, designers and policy experts who are all committed to rolling out default end-to-end encryption on Messenger,” Meta said.
Over the next few months, more users will continue seeing some of their chats gradually being upgraded with an extra layer of protection provided by end-to-end encryption.
Meta product manager Melissa Miranda noted through a post that they will notify people in these individual chat threads as they are upgraded.
“We know people will have questions about how we select and upgrade individual threads, so we wanted to make it clear that this is a random process. It’s designed to be random so that there isn’t a negative impact on our infrastructure and people’s chat experience,” Miranda said.
She said this also ensures their new end-to-end encrypted threads continue to give people a fast, reliable, and rich experience on Messenger.
The company has not mentioned yet when end-to-end encryption will become the default setting for all users but has stated that they will provide progressive updates throughout the year.