Meta has officially announced that it is ending end-to-end encryption on Instagram starting from 8 May, 2026. While the company has been promoting the essential privacy feature for years, it now says that the feature is being removed because very few users were actually opting for it.
“Very few people were opting in to end-to-end encrypted messaging in DMs, so we’re removing this option from Instagram in the coming months. Anyone who wants to keep messaging with end-to-end encryption can easily do that on WhatsApp.” Meta said in a statement to Hacker News.
In a support page, the company says that affected users will see instructions on how to download and keep any media or messages they want to keep.
The social media behemoth also noted that users may need to update the Instagram app before they download the affected chats.
Whether you are in favour of this move or not, the fact remains: your Instagram DMs will soon be scannable, storable, and entirely accessible to Meta’s servers. If your conversations require actual confidentiality, it’s time to pack up and move. Here are the top 5 alternatives you can consider for keeping the safety of your conversations:
1) Signal:
Signal is often considered the gold standard for private chats. It offers end-to-end encrypted messages, voice calls, video calls and group chats by default. It also collects minimal metadata and includes features like disappearing messages and screen security to prevent screenshots.
The company operates as a non-profit, meaning there are no targeted ads or AI being trained on your personal conversations.
2) WhatsApp:
Perhaps the most obvious alternative to Instagram is WhatsApp, which continues to offer end-to-end encryption by default for personal chats. The Meta-owned messaging platform uses the Signal protocol and has repeatedly emphasised that neither the company nor third parties can read the content of messages.
However, the company still trains its AI on the conversations you have with it on WhatsApp and the app now shows targeted ads in the Status page.
3) Telegram:
Telegram has long positioned itself as a privacy-focused messaging platform. However, its encryption works slightly differently from Signal or WhatsApp. Regular chats are stored in Telegram’s cloud, but users can enable “Secret Chats” for end-to-end encryption.
4) Session:
Session goes a step further in the privacy department by even removing the need to enter your phone number to register on the app. Messages on the app are routed through a network of nodes, making it difficult to trace conversations back to individual users.
However, since Session obscures your IP address across a decentralized network, the delivery of messages can sometimes feel slower compared to other popular apps.
5) Threema:
Threema is a lesser-known messaging app that places a strong emphasis on anonymity and data protection.
The paid Swiss app generates a random ID for users and requires no personal identifiers to use it. The app adheres to Swiss privacy laws and stores data locally on your device rather than a centralized server.
