Following the high-profile showdown between Apple and FBI over access to an encrypted iPhone linked to a shooter, tech companies are taking steps to ensure the security of their products are more difficult to breach.

Facebook announced yesterday that WhatsApp’s latest update comes with a bolstered default encryption setting for the more than one billion users of the messaging service. All the messages will now only be accessible to the sender and recipient.

Good news right, no more need to communicate in code when discussing ‘sensitive’ topics.

While the group started offering full encryption on text-only messages between two people since 2014, it had yet to develop an encryption for group messages and rich media such as photos and videos.

Now, the entire of WhatsApp messaging will be supported by end-to-end encryption, meaning that not even the company will be able to read customers’ messages.

The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us.

There has been no comment yet from the FBI.

Remember this doesn’t stop your message to the group getting screenshot – behave in public would you?

Some more need to know tips from TimesLive:

It happens automatically

You won’t need to turn on any settings or set up ‘secret chats’. So long as you’ve completed the above, this should all happen automatically.

It’s not just messages

It won’t only secure your messages. Videos, photos even calls and group chats sent over Whatsapp will get the end-to-end encyrption to ensure third parties can’t listen in.

No Storage

To add to the privacy level, WhatsApp has said it won’t store your messages on its servers once they are delivered. Because of end-to-end encryption WhatsApp and third parties can’t read them anyway.

[sources: ewn&timeslive]