Summary
WhatsApp’s new encryption indicator ensures people know their conversations are secure at all times.
The label reads “end-to-end encrypted” below contact or group names and will only appear temporarily to make way for the last seen indicator.
Despite its privacy policy controversy in 2021, WhatsApp has since evolved to become a trusted messaging platform across the globe.
Encryption is one of the crucial aspects of modern-day messaging apps, ensuring conversations always remain protected. While WhatsApp has offered end-to-end encryption on chats and video calls for a while now, and the chat app has also gradually worked on increasing the visibility of encryption indicators, like the one we’ve seen in WhatsApp beta releases dating back to 2021. The latest version of the app’s beta contains one such indicator directly below the contact or group’s name.
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WABetaInfo’s reporting reveals that the feature was first spotted in January with WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.24.3.17. However, this indicator is now seemingly making its wider appearance with the latest beta (version 2.24.6.11), according to the publication. The indicator simply reads “end-to-end encrypted” and is preceded by a tiny lock.
This banner won’t be constant, though. WABetaInfo says it will only appear briefly and eventually make way for the last-seen indicator. Of course, users can always head over to the Encryption tab from the contact info page to manually verify the encryption. Does this change a whole lot for everyday users? That’s debatable, but this will no doubt be useful for people who are new to WhatsApp and may be on the fence about its encryption standards.
It was roughly three years ago when people were leaving WhatsApp en masse and flocking to alternative messaging apps like Signal. However, the Meta-owned service has come a long way since then, ultimately giving up on its controversial privacy policy battle and moving on to become one of the more trusted messaging services around.
WhatsApp already offers plenty of text within the app to explain its encryption standards. In addition to chats and video/voice calls, status updates on the platform are also end-to-end encrypted, as specified in its mobile apps. The developer even has a detailed FAQ page providing all the information on its encryption standards.
This new encryption indicator could also appear in versions 2.24.6.7, 2.24.6.8, and 2.24.6.10 of WhatsApp beta for Android, per WABetaInfo, so it’s been a part of the beta cycle for a while now. This also tells us that its appearance in the stable version shouldn’t be far away.