Messenger's end-to-end encryption still isn't working properly

Nearly a year after implementing end-to-end encryption, Messenger users are still having trouble with missing messages and constantly having to enter recovery passwords.

Hoang Phuong, a communications employee in Hanoi, said she was once scolded by a partner because "she still saw Messenger showing online, constantly commented on Facebook but they texted her for hours without 'seeing' or replying." In fact, this person's chat was only displayed on the app, not on the computer, so she could only read it when she picked up the phone.

Having used Messenger for communication for many years, Phuong said she has never received so many complaints since the end-to-end encryption feature was deployed by Meta's platform.

Although it was introduced to help protect the content of messages for users, Messenger's solution caused many people trouble, especially when it came to message synchronization. Common problems were messages being notified on the phone but not appearing on the web browser; frequently displaying old messages; requiring passwords or waiting for synchronization.

"It's really annoying," said Minh Duc, an online seller who has to communicate a lot via Messenger. Duc said he hasn't seen the security factor of Messenger, while Meta's implementation has made him impatient because after nearly a year, message synchronization is still erratic and unstable. "Some chats are synchronized immediately, while many others require a password," Duc said.

A person is entering a PIN to sync chat history on Messenger. Photo: Luu Quy

The end-to-end encryption (E2EE) feature was tested by Meta on Messenger in late 2023 and will be widely deployed to Vietnamese users from early 2024. According to a survey by VnExpress in April with nearly 2,000 participants, 74% felt inconvenienced with Messenger's new tool.

On forums like Reddit , international users also reported a similar situation. They expressed their annoyance when Meta "forced" them to use it instead of allowing users to proactively activate it like other platforms.

Mr. Ngo Minh Hieu, a technical expert at the National Cyber ​​Security and Monitoring Center, commented that "Meta may be having problems managing billions of user keys". With a large number of users operating on many types of devices, feature compatibility on different operating systems and browsers can cause errors, causing users to encounter some of the above problems.

A Meta representative has not commented on the issue. On its support page, the company recommends that users log into Messenger from supported browsers such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge and update to the latest version. When accessing Messenger on a new device, they need to restore their chat history to be able to view previous messages. "If they miss the notification to restore chat history, they can go to the device's Settings, enable secure storage mode. They can then confirm their Google Drive, iCloud Drive account or enter a 6-digit PIN," Meta said.

To disable end-to-end encryption on the Messenger app, users can go to Settings > Privacy > End-to-end encryption > Secure storage > Disable secure storage or Delete and disable secure storage . However, Mr. Ngo Minh Hieu recommends that end-to-end message encryption is an important security improvement that helps personal information to be better protected even if the password is exposed, so users should use it.

According to Hoang Phuong, because she could not stop using Messenger, she accepted to change her habits. Previously, she often accessed the web browser and chatted on the computer, but now she is always ready to check her phone and register for backup accounts on two other messaging apps.

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a method of protecting information during transmission by converting it into a ciphertext, so that only the person with the unlock code can decrypt and read it. In the field of messaging, many platforms have supported E2EE and are commonly used in Vietnam such as Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage.