Viber’s encryption will come with varying levels of security, the company said, which will show up in the form of a color-coded lock on the right side of the screen.Ī grey lock will mean the conversation (voice or text) is fully encrypted.

So the fact that Viber had not launched it until now - with only a gradual rather than universal roll out, and just weeks after WhatsApp’s news - is both a sign of the times (what users are increasingly wanting and demanding these days) but also a mark of just how competitive the messaging app landscape remains today, where everyone is making sure that no rival has more features that it does. Michael Shmilov, Viber’s COO, told TechCrunch that the company has been working on an end-to-end encryption feature for “years.” Today, just about every big messaging app encrypts your messages in transit, but more secure features like end-to-end encryption mean that service providers cannot access the message at any point at all. The new privacy features will work across Android, iOS, PCs and Mac desktops, with the encryption coming with the latest app update (6.0) and a reauthentication of the app (via QR Code) to turn the feature on. The company - founded in Israel and acquired by Japan’s Rakuten in 2014 - says the new services will be rolled out globally in the coming weeks, starting today in four countries where Viber centers most of its R&D: Brazil, Belarus, Israel and Thailand.

Viber - a messaging app with 711 million+ users - today is introducing end-to-end encryption for all messages and calls on its platform, including group chats (you can chat with up to 200 people), and a way to ‘hide’ chats on your account alongside its existing expanded deleting function. Following WhatsApp’s move to add end-to-end encryption to its platform, another big messaging company is joining the wave of apps turning on expanded privacy features.

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