Apple’s battle with the FBI is now being watched by all players in the smartphone business concerned that the security might be penetrated by the prying eyes of the government.



Being one of the companies that have been affected by these issues in the past, WhatsApp plans to make it right for its users and provide them with end-to-end encryption for both voice calls and group chats.
The company’s decision follows the detain of one of its high-profile Facebook Vice Presidents during a drug investigation. In order to avoid having to provide the government with private data from its customers, WhatsApp is determined to offer foolproof encryption to its users.
According to a report coming from The Guardian, an official announcement from WhatsApp should go live very soon, in which the company should confirm the security improvements to its instant messaging service.
WhatsApp has already added encryption to Android and iOS messaging, but in the coming weeks, both voice calls and group chats will benefit from end-to-end encryption.
Security should be a given, not a bonus feature The same report points out that WhatsApp’s encryption will be based on code developed by a famous privacy evangelist, Moxie Marlinspike, whose secure messaging app Signal is used by security hawks.
It appears that these specific encryption tools have been previously tested numerous times by outside security experts, and they seem to fit WhatsApp’s needs.
Although WhatsApp has been pushing security improvements to its customers, which would make it harder for authorities to tap the service’s messages, the company has not highlighted the feature as a selling point for its users.
The company’s founder, Jan Koum, has always said that users should be able to expect that security is a given, not a bonus feature. Either way, it looks like WhatsApp has taken the issue seriously and will soon provide users with even more security improvements.