Meta has announced it will be testing default end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger. The social media company said in a press release on Thursday that testing has already begun “between some people” earlier this week, and that it will be working to make the privacy feature default for all messages and calls in 2023.
If you’re part of the test group, your frequent chats will be automatically end-to-end encrypted, thereby rendering end-to-end encryption non-optional. This means that any conversation between you and a friend or family member can’t be accessed by Meta or anyone else. The only way Meta will see your messages is if you report them to the company if they threaten your safety in any way.
Meta is also testing out secure storage on Android and iOS. This feature helps you back up your encrypted chats in the event your phone gets lost, or you want to restore your message history on a new device that supports end-to-end encryption. These encrypted backups can be protected with a PIN/code, and you can store that PIN in a service like Google Drive or iCloud for easy reference. And it’s important to note the Google Drive and iCloud integration is only for saving your backup’s PIN. The actual backups themselves will only live on Meta’s own servers.
The default end-to-end encryption test comes on the heels of Meta’s involvement in the case of a Nebraska teen facing abortion charges after complying with police to hand over her Messenger chats with her mother discussing the use of an abortion pill to terminate her pregnancy at 24 weeks and plans to bury the fetus afterward. For context, Nebraska’s abortion cutoff is 22 weeks. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, causing people to delete period tracking apps, limit their Google searches for abortion clinics, and wipe other digital footprints for fear of the data being used against them by law enforcement.
In addition to Messenger, Meta said it will expand default end-to-end encryption to Instagram DMs. The company started testing end-to-end encryption on Instagram through an opt-in setting last year, and expanded the feature to adult users in Russia and Ukraine in February following the former country’s invasion of the latter.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
I've spent some time with the iPhone Duo, and I've used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for almost three months now. In my opinion, Samsung deserves more credit. When the Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived earlier this year, it was celebrated in some circles and ridiculed in others for supposedly copying what Apple would eventually deliver with the iPhone Duo. The dialogue was pretty odd, for multiple reasons. Samsung has been making foldable phones for years, so claiming that it copied a product Apple hadn't even launched was simply absurd.