Facebook E2EE

As discussed in the Tip of the Night for December 10, 2010, Facebook Messenger can be set to use end-to-end encryption. Follow these steps to enable E2EE in Messenger, which is only available on iPhones and Android devices.

1. In Facebook Messenger after clicking on the pen and pad icon to begin a new message, tap 'Secret' in the upper right corner.

2. The new message will include a caption indicating that end-to-end encryption is enabled.

3. At the left you'll be able to click on a clock icon which will set any messages you send to disappear at a set time interval.

E2EE will prevent anyone except for the recipient from accessing your message. The recipient will not need to take any steps to de-crypt the message, but the message will include a caption indicating that it is encrypted. To be clear, the benefit of E2EE is that the service provider, Facebook itself, is prevented from reading the messages. But Facebook Messenger is not E2EE by default. The Facebook owned WhatsApp text messaging app does use end-to-end encryption by default.