> at least as of 3.0
And this is what I find so galling, it took them to version 3.0 to decide to do that?
My quick googling shows:
v1: 2016
v2: 2017
v3: 2025
So, yes "by default" in the current year it supports it but no one (including google) is using 3.0 yet. Apple has pledged to do it in iOS 26 (currently using 2.4) and Google has some proprietary e2ee on top of 2.6.
It's just all a mess, the furthest thing possible from an "open standard" (not saying anyone claimed it was, that's just what I would have prefered if we were trying to replace SMS/MMS), and hopelessly behind all other messaging platforms.