WhatsApp End to End Encryption Starts Rolling Out; Coming for Windows Phone, iOS Later

WhatApp has turned on its end to end encryption for all thee users, world wide. This makes it impossible for anybody to crack open the message, if anybody intercepts in between. It is also impossible or the company to read the message. If that sounds familiar, then this is what was happening on the BBM as well. I still remember Indian Government tried a lot for making BBM messenger readable, but then it wasn’t possible at all.

WhatsApp has been using the open-source software Textsecure, created by privacy-focused non-profit Open Whisper Systems, which scrambles messages with a cryptographic key that only the user can access and never leaves his or her device. This makes this the biggest deployment of end to end encryption.

As Wired Reports,  Textsecure was already encrypting messages for Android, since a week now, but it is only limited to text, not photos and videos. Also it doesn’t apply on groups as well. The other platforms like Windows Phone, iOS are next, but there is no deadline to it. The encryption is invisible, so dont expect an app update unless required.

Those who want to compare this with iMessage encryption, TextSecure does not create a new encryption key for every message sent which makes it difficult to read.