Instant messaging service WhatsApp has rolled out end-to-end encryption across all devices that support the platform, reported Wired.in, in a move that could be a huge boost to privacy technology. “WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption ensures only you and the person you’re communicating with can read what is sent, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp,” the Facebook-owned chat app wrote on its website.

A coder and cryptographer who uses the pseudonym Moxie Marlinspike worked with the app's founders, Brian Acton and Jan Koum, to not only protect from government snooping, but also secure the exchanges even from the tech company's own employees. With this development, WhatsApp has made it virtually impossible for itself to comply with any government demand to access content on the platform. Co-founder Acton said safer products make the world a safer place, though he acknowledged that several governments might not share his vision.

This holds significant importance in the debate that ensued from Apple's strong resistance to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's order that they help them break into the iPhone of a shooter in the San Bernardino attacks. The government agency later managed to hack into the phone with the help of an anonymous source in the last week of March, after weeks of wrangling with the tech behemoth. However, WhatsApp has been working towards securing its network since much before the row, having rolled out strong encryption in portions to its users from 2014 onwards.