Line Messenger Gets 'Letter Sealing' End-to-End Encryption

Line, the instant messaging app, has updated its mobile application for Android and iOS with a new feature called Letter Sealing. The feature enables end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to prevent the personal conversation of users from going into the wrong hands. It also works on the PC apps for Windows and OS X, says the company.

"This method of secure communication facilitates uncrackable encryption by scrambling the chat content with a key, which is stored only in user device instead of a centralised server. With the advanced security system, it is technically impossible for the chat content to be disclosed in the server or to a third party," states the company blog post.

The company plans to use Letter Sealing on one-to-one individual chats and Location Sharing initially, followed by other features and devices in the future. Also noted is that full encryption will be enabled only when both the parties have Letter Sealing enabled on their devices. "The feature will also be automatically applied for other Android users using multiple devices and iOS users in the near future." For now, the feature can be manually switched on from the app's settings, seen in version 5.3.0 of the app. The update is yet to reach India.

Letter Sealing comes as an addition to a number of app features company has already introduced to keep user chats secure. Hidden Chat, time limited messaging feature, and Passcode Lock are a few security features already included inside the messaging app.

Line in August released an update for its Android app that brought major overhaul to its calling feature. The update also rebranded the Line Premium Call feature to Line Out.