Your WhatsApp conversations just got a lot more secure: the chat app has turned on full end-to-end encryption.
"From now on when you and your contacts use the latest version of the app, every call you make, and every message, photo, video, file, and voice message you send, is end-to-end encrypted by default, including group chats," WhatsApp co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton wrote in a blog post. "End-to-end encrypted messages can only be read by the recipients you intend."
The duo explained that this new security measure will help protect your messages from the prying eyes of cybercriminals, hackers, "oppressive regimes," and even WhatsApp itself.
WhatsApp has been working towards this goal for some time. In November 2014, it teamed up with Open Whisper Systems to implement its TextSecure encryption protocol, but warned that it would be a slow deployment. At that time, some Android communications were protected, but iOS was not yet covered, nor were group chats or media messages.
Now, "if you're using the latest version of WhatsApp, you don't have to do a thing to encrypt your messages: end-to-end encryption is on by default and all the time," Koum and Acton wrote.
That's good news for the more than 1 billion people who use WhatsApp.
Encryption has, of course, been a hot topic in recent months, thanks to Apple's fight with the FBI over access to encrypted iPhones. But Apple reportedly isn't the government's only target: The New York Times recently reported that the DOJ has been locked in a "prolonged standoff" with WhatsApp over access to its content.
Koum and Acton addressed the issue in their blog post Tuesday. "Encryption is one of the most important tools governments, companies, and individuals have to promote safety and security in the new digital age," they wrote. "While we recognize the important work of law enforcement in keeping people safe, efforts to weaken encryption risk exposing people's information to abuse from cybercriminals, hackers, and rogue states."