Getting in Trouble with WhatsApp Blue Ticks?

Many WhatsApp users were surprised with the new read receipts feature of the messaging service that was quietly introduced into the app.

The read receipts feature allows users to see when a sent message has been received and read, not just when the message has been delivered.

Previously, WhatsApp showed one tick mark when a message has been sent, which would change to two grey tick marks when the massage has been successfully delivered.

With the update, the app now adds two blue tick marks to a message when it has been read by the recipient.

The app introduced this feature without any updates itself.

Only Android device owners can turn off the WhatsApp read notification for now, and will only work if the user manually updates that app through the website of WhatsApp. WhatsApp usually releases updates for its app through its website before rolling out the same update through the Google Play store of Android.

Firstly you have to obtain the latest APK for WhatsApp from the official website, which is version 2.11.444.

Once the latest version of WhatsApp has been downloaded, users should go to the Settings of their Android device, select Security, and then click on Unknown Sources to allow apps obtained from sources other than Google Play to be installed to the device. While the exact path to the option can vary between devices, the general idea is to allow the device to accept apps from outside sources.

The downloaded APK should then be accessed to install the latest WhatsApp version. After the installation has been finished, users should tap the icon with three dots in the app's top right corner. Users can then click on Settings, then on Account, then on Privacy.

From there, the read receipts feature can be disabled.

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Text Messaging Android App WhatsApp starts End-to-End Encryption

WhatsApp, the most widely used messaging app, that Facebook acquired for $19 billion earlier in the year, has teamed up with Open Whisper Systems to offer end-to-end encryption on messages sent through the app.

With the encryption, messages exchanged between users will be encrypted by default with a password so that only the senders and the receivers will be able to read them.

The company said that it has been working with WhatsApp for the previous half year to incorporate the TextSecure protocol into the app.

The TextSecure protocol is a strong, open source encryption protocol that the company has been developing for the past three years. It works by scrambling the messages using a cryptographic key that only the user is able to access. Since the key permanently stays within the user's device, the encrypted messages are practically uncrackable externally.

The protocol also uses a feature called "forward secrecy," which creates new encryption keys for every message sent. This means that even if a hacker would be able to access a user's encryption key, only the message that used that key will be compromised. All the other messages are still safe.

Open Whisper Systems, which developed the encryption software, announced that messages of users of Android devices with the latest version of WhatsApp are already being encrypted and that the process will gradually be applied to other platforms.

Only user-to-user messages for the Android version are encrypted for now, with support for group chats and media messages containing pictures and videos to be rolled out soon.

End-to-end encryption will deliver complete privacy to WhatsApp users, as the system will mean that WhatsApp will not be able to hand over information contained within WhatsApp messages even if law enforcers request for it.

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