KakaoTalk for Android Gains End-To-End Encryption Feature

If you’re particularly concerned about your privacy, you might want to check out KakaoTalk, a messaging app out of Korea by Daum Kakao. The app has been around for a while now, but the company has recently announced some changes that they are making to the app that will appeal to those who are particular about their privacy.

This will come in the form of end-to-end encryption that will hopefully prevent hackers or even the government from snooping or intercepting and reading your messages. The feature is currently available in the Android version with the iOS version soon to follow. For those on Android, the encrypted chat feature can be accessed via the “Secret Chat” mode.

As it stands the feature will be limited to one-on-one conversations although Daum Kakao expects to roll it out to group chats within the first three months of 2015. In addition to the encryption feature, the developers also allowed users to leave group chats without the ability to be re-added unless they want to.

In a statement released by Daum Kakao, “Secret Chat ensures heightened confidentiality of user conversations by providing end-to-end encryption, where the decryption key for chat messages is stored in the user’s device making the messages only readable by the users involved in the conversation. Since the decryption key is stored only in the device, other parties cannot access conversations through any outside point—even through servers.”

This also follows in the footsteps of WhatsApp who announced a similar feature back in November. For those interested in checking out the app or getting their hands on the update, you can do so by heading on over to the Google Play Store for the download.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Apps, kakaotalk