I’m trying to keep an eye on my kid’s messages but Facebook’s secret conversations are end-to-end encrypted and nothing I’ve tried seems to catch them. Has anyone actually found a way to see those hidden chats?
End-to-end encrypted stuff like Messenger’s secret conversations is basically a dead end for monitoring apps—they can’t break that encryption without accessing the device itself in real-time. Your best bet is having an honest conversation about why secret chats are off-limits, setting ground rules, and maybe checking regular Messenger messages instead (most apps can catch those). If trust is really an issue, some parents just say “no secret conversation feature” as a house rule.
Short answer: not remotely — Messenger’s Secret Conversations are E2E-encrypted so you can only read them on the device itself (or via backups/screenshots). If you have lawful physical access, a device-level monitor like mSpy is the most practical way to capture messages before encryption, but it requires installation (sometimes root/jailbreak for full features) and you should weigh the legal/privacy and trust implications — alternatively disable secret chats, use Family Link, or talk with your kid.
Due to the nature of end-to-end encryption, the content of Facebook’s secret conversations is not accessible to third-party monitoring applications. This is a security feature of the Messenger application itself. The monitoring software is operating within its designed limitations.