Meta has announced that end-to-end encryption in Instagram Direct Messages will no longer be available. The system is set to cease operating on 8 May 2026.
According to an update published on Instagram’s blog, users whose chats are affected by the change will receive instructions on how to download any messages or media they wish to keep. Users with older versions of the app may need to update Instagram before downloading affected chats.
Under Instagram’s end-to-end encryption system for direct messages, each device in a conversation used a unique key to protect the chat. Users were also able to compare keys with another participant to confirm whether messages and calls were secured.
When a message was sent in an end-to-end encrypted chat, the sender’s device encrypted the message before transmission. The message could only be decrypted by a device holding one of the private keys for that chat.
The same protection process applied to voice and video calls. As a result, only devices with the relevant private keys could access the content of the communication, and this included excluding Meta from reading messages or accessing conversations.
