Facebook is taking a huge step toward keeping Messenger users’ dialogs safe from prying eyes: The firm is testing a brand new feature it calls “secret dialogues,” which uses end to end encryption to lock up messages.

In a blog post Friday declaring the evaluation, Facebook emphasized sensitive issues like fiscal advice and health as among the motives users might need to use it.

End to end encryption has seen a boom in popularity lately as mainstream technology firms have began incorporating it into their products amid heightened cyber-security surveillance and anxieties.

The Messenger attribute is not going to be turned on by default; users will need to select to begin a dialogue that is secret. Along with supplying end to end protections, the attribute will even enable users to establish a time limit for how long each message will stay visible in a dialogue. Nevertheless, some popular features are n’t now supported by secret dialogues, like sharing videos or GIFs.

Facebook says it intends to make it more broadly available after this summer, although just a limited variety of Messenger users will have the ability to test out the feature for now.

The secret dialogues of messenger rely on technology from Open Whisper Systems, which likewise makes the free end to end voice call program Sign and encrypted messaging. Facebook used the same technology to construct end to end encryption in a procedure finished before this year, into WhatsApp, which it possesses.

“It is becoming a minimal prerequisite for setting up an app in this way,” Green said.

But by having a leading player in the instant messaging world like Facebook dive into this space additionally, the secrecy protection is extended to an audience that otherwise mightn’t use it, based on Green. “There are folks who are not going to download some specific program, so the fact it’s being assembled into the matters they already use is a genuinely big deal,” Green said.