Lifestyle

Your WhatsApp messages are now encrypted

Default private settings

06.04.2016

By Rachel Au

Your WhatsApp messages are now encrypted

In the midst of the whirlwind battle between the FBI and Apple over an encrypted iPhone and the issue revolving around privacy, Whatsapp, one of the biggest messaging service with over 1 billion users have enabled end-to-end encryption with its latest update. That generally means no one, not even WhatsApp employees, can read or see what’s being sent across its network. 

 

All you have to do is update the app and once your contacts do the same, the messages, photos, calls and videos between you and them will automatically be encrypted. It’s available for almost every operating system, be it iPhones, Android or Windows phones. And it works for group chats as well.

 

In a blog post on their company website, WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton said:

“The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private – sort of like a face-to-face conversation.”

Read more about how WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption works here.


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