The client now refuses to send any unencrypted messages

Apr 5, 2016 18:53 GMT  ·  By

We reported last month that WhatsApp could add end-to-end encryption to voice calls and group chats, but we didn’t know when exactly that would happen.

Today, the company “guilty” of integrating this type of encryption into WhatsApp has confirmed that the feature has been fully included in the application on both Android and iOS platforms.

“At Open Whisper Systems, our goal is to make private communication simple. A year ago, we announced a partnership with WhatsApp and committed to integrating the Signal Protocol into their product, moving towards a full end to end encryption for all of their users by default,” says the cryptographer who goes by the pseudonym Moxie Marlinspike.

At the base of this end-to-end encryption is something called Signal Protocol, which has been rolled out across all WhatsApp clients, including chats, group chats, attachments, voice notes, and voice calls over the past year.

The application will notify users when end-to-end encryption is available

According to developers, the integration is complete, and users running the most recent versions of WhatsApp Messenger on any platform should benefit from end-to-end encryption for every message they send, as well as WhatsApp call.

If you’re waiting for the new feature to roll out to your device, then you should know that the WhatsApp client notifies users when their chats become end-to-end encrypted.

So, beginning today, users will see a notification in their conversation screen as their individual and group chats become end-to-end encrypted. Furthermore, the encryption status of any chat will now be visible under that chat's preferences screen.

The latest WhatsApp update also adds a new feature that allows users to opt into a preference that notifies them every time the security code for a contact changes.

Famous cryptographer Moxie Marlinspike and WhatsApp also promise that, over the next year, they will continue to work with additional messengers to improve the security and privacy of communication even further.