Google Fi, one of the world’s most popular search engine giant services is launching its end-to-end encrypted calls. The company made the official announcement on Thursday.
According to the post by Google, end –to- end encryption is the latest addition to the collection of privacy and security features that is included at no extra charge in all its Fi plans, alongside its built-in VPN for private online connections and spam blocking to prevent unwanted calls on Android smartphones.
Facebook and WhatsApp amongst others are one of such platforms that offer end-to-end encryption for its calls and texts.
Google in its blog post assured users of the safety measures involved with its new feature and ways to know when their calls are encrypted.
“Calls between two Android phones on Fi will be secured with end-to-end encryption by default, so you can have peace of mind knowing your calls are staying between you and the person you’re talking to”.
“You’ll know a call is encrypted by hearing a ‘unique ring tone’ and seeing a lock symbol on your screen before you are connected. The lock symbol will show up during a call. It will also include audio and video cues”.
The feature will work over both Wi-Fi and cellular connections for only calls between Google Fi and customers. However, a number of additional features linked to its end-to-end encryption will not work.
The company stated that calls made through the Google Messages application will not support end-to-end encryption and also the feature will not be available for group calls and voicemails.
As of now, the feature is only available for Android phones and will be rolling out in a few weeks’ time. For the meantime, iPhone users will not be able to use the feature or benefit from it.
For those who do not know, Google Fi is a telecommunication service by Google that provides telephone calls, SMS and mobile broadband using cellular network and Wi-Fi. It operates on solid connections and routes your device through a VPN to keep you protected.
It covers more than 200 destinations around the world, including Nigeria.
