WhatsApp betters security after iPhone case

The update arrives amid a heightened international debate over how much access law enforcement should have to digital communications and follows a high-profile showdown between Apple and the FBI over an encrypted iPhone linked to one of the San Bernardino shooters. 

WhatsApp began working on developing full end-to-end encryption on its messages about two years ago with the help of software provided by Open Whisper Systems, a security non-profit. The communications app began offering it by default on text-only messages between two users in 2014, but group messages and those containing rich media such as photos and videos were not fully encrypted. 

As of Tuesday the entirety of WhatsApp messages will be supported by end-to-end encryption, the company said, meaning the company will not have any capability to read customers’ messages even if approached by law enforcement. 

Facebook’s decision to increase security of its messages occurs on the heels of the FBI’s high-profile attempt to force Apple to unlock an encrypted iPhone belonging to a Syed Farouk, who along with his wife opened fire at a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif., in December, killing 14 and wounding 22.