How to Enable Secret Conversation in Facebook Messenger

In April, WhatsApp rolled out end-to-end encryption, giving its users access to secure messaging. Now, WhatsApp’s half-sibling, Facebook Messenger, is taking a page out of its book, as the chat app has also rolled out its own form of end-to-end encryption.

Facebook Messenger’s implementation of end-to-end encryption, called Secret Conversation, is drastically different than the one found on WhatsApp. For one, end-to-end encryption is limited to Secret Conversation chatrooms only. As such, communications outside of these chatrooms will remain unencrypted.

Furthermore, Facebook has added an additional layer of security to Secret Conversation, allowing only the encrypted messages to be read on a single device, and we’re going to walk you through the process of activating.

Enabling Secret Conversations

Step 1

Go to your Facebook Messenger settings and scroll down until the “Secret Conversations” option appears.

Select the option and enable it on the following screen.

Step 2

Select someone from your friends list, go to the Options menu, and scroll down until you find the “Secret Conversations” option.

Once selected, the screen below will appear.

If you want more than just encrypted messages, Secret Conversation chatrooms come with a feature that will automatically delete messengers after a selected period of time passes.

Just tap on the Stopwatch icon, select a time limit, and the chatroom will automatically delete messages once the time is up.

Facebook’s method of implementing end-to-end encryption may not be the most intuitive, but if you value the security of your communications, Secret Conversations is a welcome addition to the chat app.