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Your Messenger app is about to get some major upgrades, including end-to-end message encryption

If you ever wanted to make sure your Facebook Messenger chats were truly private, peace of mind may be coming your way.
Written by Sabrina Ortiz, Editor
Meta updates to Messenger screenshots on a light purple background
Image: Meta

Chatting with your friends on Messenger can feel like a fun, safe space. 

However, the threat of having someone breach your messages and read all of your private thoughts can be nerve wracking. 

For that reason, Facebook announced on Monday that it will be expanding Messenger's end-to-end message encryption globally. 

The rollout of Messenger chat end-to-end encryption will happen gradually within the next few months, according to Meta, Facebook's parent company. 

People will be notified in the individual chat thread when the chat is upgraded and encrypted. This random selection may mean that some of your Messenger chats will be encrypted while others aren't. 

Also: How to enable end-to-end encryption for Facebook Messenger chats

Facebook says it has worked with engineers, cryptologists, designers, and policy experts to bring end-to-end encryption to Messenger and make chats private, safe, and secure. End-to-end encryption is still in its testing phase, and this rollout will be part of that testing. 

"Building a secure and resilient end-to-end encrypted service for the billions of messages that are sent on Messenger every day requires careful testing," said Meta.  

As of Monday, these end-to-end encrypted chats will have new features previously exclusive to regular Messenger chats. Encrypted chats will now have chat themes, custom chat emojis, and reactions, group profile photos, link previews, and active status. 

Also: The best encrypted messaging apps 

Android users get an added bonus -- bubbles. Bubbles on Android is a feature that shows you a circle with your friend's photo, also known as a bubble, while using other apps that you can use to read and reply to messages. 

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