Twitter's encrypted messages may arrive very soon — if the site doesn't break first

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Twitter messaging is set for a long-overdue upgrade

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Twitter may become the latest service to join our list of the best encrypted messaging apps. 

Apparently, the social network is aiming to roll out the long-overdue feature before the end of the month. Or so claims Elon Musk.

Rumors that encrypted messaging could come to Twitter started back in November, as part of Musk’s grand “Twitter 2.0” plan. That would fix a long-standing flaw in Twitter’s feature set, and add an extra layer of security to your private messages. 

The aim, according to Musk’s own Twitter account, is to have encryption roll out by the end of the month. That’s alongside the ability to reply to individual DMs and use “any reaction emoji.”

But that rollout is all dependent on everything going according to plan, which isn’t always the case — even at companies that don’t seem to have a bunch of problems behind the scenes. Recently Twitter suffered a major outage, which temporarily wiped out user timelines, and less than a week later the T.co domain went down — causing issues with links and media. I’ve also noticed Twitter seems to be inconsistent in its loading times, but maybe that’s just me. 

Nevertheless, Twitter staff are going to have to make sure they don’t have any fires to put out before they can focus their efforts on rolling out new features. Particularly since their numbers are dwindling pretty quickly, in the aftermath of multiple waves of lay-offs. 

So don’t be surprised if the rollout of this feature gets pushed back, or if it’s working as planned when it eventually does. It wouldn’t be the first time Musk announced changes for the social network, only for there to be delays and problems with the rollout.

Adding encryption to direct messaging is definitely a good thing, so long as Twitter’s encryption protocols are up to standard. The sooner this feature can roll out, and the greater protection users have for keeping their private conversations secure, the better. 

Let’s just hope encryption isn’t exclusive to Twitter Blue subscribers, like SMS two-factor authentication and so many other new features.

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Tom Pritchard
Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.