Facebook Officially Announces "Secret Conversations" Feature for Messenger

The rumors have been confirmed, and Facebook officially announced that it tests the new “secret conversations” feature for its Messenger application. That’s something that can be described as an encryption of conversations, but only of those that the user chooses, and not all of them (as in WhatsApp).

The user will be able to send fully encrypted messages that the receiver will be able to view in only one device (smartphone, tablet or computer), so as to give only a single decryption key.

If you wish, you may add a timer in the message to let it self-destruct shortly after it was read by its recipient, like in Snapchat. Note that sending GIFs and videos will not be supported.

Trying to promote more privacy in the least private social media service is kind of ironic though. But it's a good strategy for luring users into sending more private information that they otherwise wouldn't. As they say, more is less...