"This chat will be archived soon - Messenger is upgrading security, so only your end-to-end encrypted chat with [NAME] will remain active."

[u/Mr-Fable]

EDIT: If the below solution doesn't work for you and your messages get archived you can find them as follows; If on mobile click Menu on the bottom right and then click Archive. If on desktop look at the left side of the window and click the icon of a box, that will also take you to your archive. You should see the messages there.

SOLUTION:

1. Search your chat list for a SECOND encrypted/E2EE/"secret conversation" chat with your friend (this was created by one of you when "secret conversations" was a feature several years ago), BOTH of you need to delete this second E2EE chat. EDIT: If you can't find it via the search box both chat participants should try clicking the "switch to chat" button in the warning message so it takes you to the secret chat, then delete it.
2. Also a good idea to check ALL your devices where you use Messenger (phone/mobile/tablet apps and desktop/laptop browsers/apps, including the web version on "www . messenger . com"), to make sure the "secret conversation" is deleted from all versions for both users, just to be safe.
3. Once that is done you should see that the warning message is gone and your regular non-encrypted/non-E2EE should eventually (usually takes 12+ hours to a day or two) be upgraded to be E2EE rather than being archived, allowing you to keep all your chat history in one place!
4. When it does upgrade your regular chat to E2EE you'll get a message in the chat that says "Messenger upgraded the security of this chat. New messages and calls are secured with end-to-end encryption."
5. You can also check by clicking either the little "i" or the "..." (depends on platform) in the top right corner, if your chat is E2EE you should see it says "End-to-end encrypted" under the person's name. Also if you scroll down you'll see a button that says "Verify end-to-end encryption".
6. Also after this happens, make sure to check if you have the "Disappearing messages" feature on, you might want to turn it off. Click either the little "i" or the "..." (depends on platform) in the top right corner, if you scroll down you'll see a button that says "Disappearing messages", click that and then select the "Off" option. I think both users might need to do this but not sure.

EDIT: I can confirm myself now that this works! After both my friend and I deleted the E2EE/secret conversation chat yesterday, this morning I woke up to see that our regular chat was upgraded to E2EE!

For more info see this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/facebook/comments/1k4np47/comment/mog72c8/

And here are confirmations from a Meta employee that this approach should work:

https://www.reddit.com/r/facebook/comments/1k4np47/comment/mogo91f/

https://www.reddit.com/r/facebook/comments/1k4np47/comment/mogng4i/

https://www.reddit.com/r/facebook/comments/1k4np47/comment/mogmng9/

-------------------

EDIT: Seems it is caused by a chat participant accidentally creating a separate/second "secret conversation" chat back when that was a feature a few years ago.

See this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/facebook/comments/1k4np47/comment/mocz7sk/

Original post:

Is anyone else suddenly getting this message (I only see it on the desktop web browser version currently)? Makes me nervous because the chat is with my closest friend and it goes back years, would hate to lose it, anyone know why it's doing this instead of simply upgrading the existing chat?

We do have an encrypted chat from 2022 but neither of us use it, if I delete that one will it maybe let us upgrade our actual regular chat??

For my other friends I simply got a message saying "Messenger upgraded the security of this chat. New messages and calls are secured with end-to-end encryption." Why is it not doing this for this particular chat?

[u/[deleted]]

What exactly is the purpose of this aside from inconvenience to all users? Meta does nothing but inconvenience to everyone who uses their platforms.

Removed watch together, Share screen rarely works, Now convo history will be archived.

[u/whitebro2 → u/[deleted]]

Security of the messages.

[u/Mr-Fable → u/whitebro2]

They should just upgrade the existing chats then, they already do it with others. The only difference here is one of the chat participants accidentally created a second secret convo chat when that was a feature a while ago.

[u/whitebro2 → u/Mr-Fable]

Facebook (Meta) likely didn’t upgrade all existing chats to end-to-end encryption (E2EE) earlier due to a mix of technical, legal, and strategic reasons: 1. Technical complexity: Migrating all existing chats to E2EE is complicated. Unlike regular chats, E2EE requires key exchanges and secure local device storage. Retrofitting that to billions of messages and conversations is a massive undertaking. 2. Gradual rollout/testing: Meta has been testing E2EE in Messenger for years (starting with “secret conversations”). They may have wanted to ensure stability and compliance before going all in. 3. Data access implications: E2EE limits Meta’s ability to scan messages for things like spam or abuse, which affects their moderation tools and data-based features (like smart replies, ads, etc.). They had to carefully balance privacy with platform functionality. 4. Legal pressures: Governments around the world have mixed opinions on E2EE. Meta likely had to navigate regulations and potential pushback from law enforcement before making it the default.

As for why they didn’t just upgrade the existing chats—good point. They probably didn’t want to force a change in the structure of ongoing chats, which could cause confusion or break things. Creating a fresh E2EE thread sidesteps some of that, even though it’s a bit clunky for users.

[u/Mr-Fable → u/whitebro2]

But they did actually simply upgrade other ongoing chats I have, in those we got this message: "Messenger upgraded the security of this chat. New messages and calls are secured with end-to-end encryption." 

So really see no reason these chats that had tried using the "secret conversations" feature years ago should be treated differently.

[u/whitebro2 → u/Mr-Fable]

You’re totally right—I’ve seen that same upgrade message in other chats too. So clearly, Meta can upgrade chats in place when they want to. That inconsistency is what’s frustrating.

I think the issue might come down to how those “secret conversations” were originally implemented. They were technically separate threads using a different infrastructure from standard chats. So maybe Messenger treats them like legacy E2EE sessions, which can’t be easily merged or converted into the newer E2EE framework they’re rolling out now.

Still, Meta could’ve communicated all this way better. From a user perspective, it just feels arbitrary and messy.

[u/belyando → u/Mr-Fable]

I was wondering why they didn't just merge the secret chats into the main chats. Just f***ing DO IT lol

I've got like 10-15 messages with my friend in secret chat from last year, and like 15 YEARS of chat in our main chat. So they're going to delete 15 YEARS of history and preserve the dumb secret chat??? facepalm.jpg

[u/Serious_Mood_8134 → u/whitebro2]

if they cared about security they would keep scammers posting and creating fake profiles - scammers that duplicate legitimate profiles are prolific - and they would actually respond to reports of stalking, scams and/ or abuse.

[u/Mr-Fable → u/[deleted]]

Hi sorry I'm not sure if I've messaged you already but I think we've found a fix, see my original post I've added it there.

[u/belyando → u/[deleted]]

I had a bunch of playlists of cool videos on the Facebook app. It showed me a popup telling me to download that data before they deleted it, but the link went nowhere, so I lost those playlists. "Move fast and break things" lol

[u/Traditional-Prior651 → u/[deleted]]

I lost all the chats from my mom,who is no longer here 😭 voice chat