Facebook Messenger users' voice and video calls will now be end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) to enhance the privacy of conversations. The new feature was officially announced in the company's blog post along with the added choices of timing for disappearing messages.
Facebook Messenger received end-to-end encryption of text messages in 2016, and now it is also available for calls. The social media giant says it is adding this feature amid growing interest in voice and video calls, noting that Facebook users make more than 150 million video calls per day.
Facebook announced that end-to-end encryption is becoming the "industry standard" for messaging apps. Previously, it was rumored that the company might roll out a unified end-to-end encrypted ecosystem for all its products, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram, but that hasn't happened yet.
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In addition, Facebook introduced an update to its disappearing messages feature in Messenger. Originally, disappearing messages on Facebook Messenger could be set to 1 minute, 15 minutes, one hour, four hours, and 24 hours. However, now the service lets users specify more time frames for disappearing messages, ranging from five seconds to 24 hours.
Other Facebook products, such as WhatsApp, also feature end-to-end encryption. The company will also test end-to-end encryption for Instagram direct messages, with adult users from specific countries participating in this test.
In the coming weeks, end-to-end encryption in group chats, Messenger voice and video calls will be tested with a limited group of users in selected countries.