Meta announces new features for Messenger: What are they and more – Times of India

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that end-to-end encrypted chats for Messenger are getting new features, which include link previews, custom emojis, themes, and others. In a post on Facebook, he also said that the company is ramping up testing default end-to-end encryption for more people in Messenger.
New Messenger features
Chat themes: Meta says that it is adding chat themes to help personalise and enhance conversations in end-to-end encrypted chats. Users can jazz up the background with new themes, which include static colour and gradient themes.
Custom chat emojis and reactions: Apart from personalising chats, the new features will also personalise users’ responses. Users will be able to see the full menu of emoji reactions and customise the quick reaction tray in end-to-end encrypted chats.

Group profile photos: Users will now be able to choose group profile photos for different chats.
Link previews: Meta also rebuilt link previews for end-to-end encrypted chats so that users can see where a link is taking them, before clicking on it. Link previews are also available on another Meta-owned social platform WhatsApp.
Active Status: The “Active Status” feature will let people see when they are active so they know they can connect with you. Furthermore, users can also turn this feature off in case they want more privacy.
Bubbles on Android: Android smartphones will also be getting Bubbles (a circle with your friend’s picture) that will let users read and reply to messages while they are using other apps. Once enabled, a bubble will appear when users get a new message.
Default end-to-end encryption for Messenger
Meta also announced that it has started to expand testing default end-to-end encryption for Messenger. This means that over the next few months, more people will continue to see some of their chats being upgraded with end-to-end encryption protection.

“We know people want a space to connect and they want to know that those conversations are private, safe and secure. That is why we’ve spent time building a team of talented engineers, cryptologists, designers and policy experts who are all committed to rolling out default end-to-end encryption on Messenger,” the company said in a blog post.
Meta will notify people in these individual chat threads as they are upgraded and clarified that the people will be selected randomly for this process.
“It’s designed to be random so that there isn’t a negative impact on our infrastructure and people’s chat experience. This also ensures our new end-to-end encrypted threads continue to give people the fast, reliable and rich experience on Messenger,” it said.
Currently, the option to turn on end-to-end encryption on Messenger can be accessed in the settings of each chat. On Android, you can tap a chat that you want to be encrypted and tap “information” icon on the top right corner. Scroll down and search for “Go to secret conversation” to protect your chat.