Social media giant Facebook is working on a ‘secret conversation’ feature on Messenger, and it will cut across both audio and video conversations. Mark Zuckerberg had disclosed in March that Facebook would be encrypting all messaging services. It appears that the social network is finally working on making that a reality.
According to software expert Jane Manchun Wong, Facebook is testing encrypting video and audio calls over Messenger in Secret mode. However, this does not mean all calls in normal mode will be encrypted.
In her tweet, Wong posted a screenshot that suggested that secret conversations will be “end-to-end encrypted across all your active mobile devices.
The encryption feature allows for conversations to be wrapped in a layer of privacy, similar to what is obtainable on Facebook’s other messaging apps.
For instance, unlike Messenger, WhatsApp allows encrypted calls and messaging by default. However, at the moment, Messenger encrypts messages only in secret conversation mode, and it doesn’t have call functionality.
Facebook Messenger is not known for secure communication and some countries have objected to this feature. In early October, Australia and the UK reportedly had plans to ask Facebook to stop plans for end-to-end encryption across its messaging apps, citing public safety risks.
It is important to note that the feature is currently a testing phase. We will surely update the story once it hits the public version of the app.
