Viber Joins WhatsApp, Apple With End-to-End Encryption

Chalk up another victory for user privacy.

Viber announced Tuesday that it will begin rolling out end-to-end encryption for all of its one-to-one and group conversations, including video, voice and text messages. That means the company won’t be able to read any of its user messages, and neither will government agencies that come calling.

Viber is even taking security a step further with a new feature called Hidden Chats. While encrypted messages can’t be deciphered by Viber, they do still exist on both the sender’s and receiver’s phone. Hidden chats allows users to hide those messages so that they can only be accessed with a four-digit PIN number.

Viber is the latest messaging app to strengthen its security features in the wake of Apple’s long battle with the FBI over an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers. Facebook-owned WhatsApp rolled out end-to-end encryption for all its users earlier this month. It’s a trend you’ll continue to see.

The new encryption update will roll out to users worldwide over “several weeks,” a spokesperson said.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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