“Whatsapp’s roll out of the Signal Protocol, providing end to end encryption for its one billion users worldwide, is a major boost for people’s ability to express themselves and communicate without fear,” according to the Facebook-owned company in a statement.

This strategic roll-out is well-timed, in midst of increasing security concerns following FBI’s high profile attempt to force Apple to unlock an encryted iPhone belonging to terrorist shooter Syed Farouk. A 2015 survey done by Gemalto, an online security company, found that consumers have low confidence in corporate data security. Over twice of the 5,750 respondents worldwide also believed that the responsibility of protecting consumer data lies with the company (69%), instead of the customer (31%). By addressing this data protection gap, Whatsapp has one-upped other free messaging app alternatives.