After WhatsApp, Viber to encrypt user conversations

April 19, 2016 20:09

Following the footsteps of larger rival WhatsApp, instant messaging app Viber will encrypt user messages to protect texts and calls on its platform from "interception".

"Our team at Viber has been working hard to give you more control over your private conversations. Today we are taking another step in this direction by making your private communication even safer through end-to-end encryption, hidden chats and message deletion," Viber COO Michael Shmilov said in a blogpost.

He added that the company has been working on this for a long time and users can "confidently use Viber without fear of their messages being intercepted - whether it is in a one-to-one or group message, on a call, on desktop, mobile or tablet".

Earlier this month, Facebook-owned WhatsApp had announced end-to-end encryption to protect conversations of its over one billion users from hackers and "regimes".

The development came close on the heels of a legal battle between Apple and FBI over the US agency's demand that the iPhone maker help unlock its mobile phones. Many Silicon Valley players had supported Apple citing that user data privacy needs to be respected.

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