How does WhatsApp work?

After downloading WhatsApp and confirming your phone number, you can text and call anyone across the globe for free (minus any data charges). But that’s not the only perk of using WhatsApp. The chat app also offers several important security features, including encryption and privacy settings, that help to protect your info from thieves. Aside from using WhatsApp, you’ll want to steal these secrets from people who never get hacked, too.

WhatsApp encryption

WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption to protect all communication on its platform. These encryption keys not only make it impossible to decrypt messages, but they also prevent third parties and even WhatsApp from accessing messages or calls. That means “only you and the person or group you are communicating with can read or see the messages, photos or files you send, or listen to the calls you make,” according to James E. Lee, chief operating officer at Identity Theft Resource Center.

WhatsApp privacy

In addition to its encryption function, WhatsApp allows users to customize their privacy settings, including the visibility of their status and profile to others. But keep in mind that not everything you do on the app is private. WhatsApp “does collect and share information about how you use the service, including sharing information with their parent company, Facebook,” Lee says. You can learn more about what information is collected and how it is used by reading WhatsApp’s privacy policy. FYI, if these apps are still on your phone, someone could be spying on you.

Is WhatsApp safe?

Although end-to-end encryption makes WhatsApp more secure than other communication apps, no app is 100 percent safe to use. Like any app or digital device, WhatsApp is often targeted by bad actors. The app also has access to your contacts and tracks where and how long you use it, putting your privacy and personal information at risk. Here’s why you should be worried about smartphone apps stealing your data.

WhatsApp security issues

In May 2019, hackers learned they could infect phones with spyware by calling victims through WhatsApp. WhatsApp quickly fixed the software bug, but criminals are always searching for new vulnerabilities in apps. What’s more, WhatsApp can gather and store data on “how you interact with others using our services, and the time, frequency and duration of your activities and interactions,” according to its privacy policy—and could even share that info with police. Watch out for these warning signs your phone has been hacked.

How to protect your privacy

Unfortunately, “no app is ever completely safe from attackers,” says Theresa Payton, author of Manipulated: Inside the Cyberwar to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth and CEO of Fortalice Solutions. To safeguard your phone and personal information, Lee recommends frequently updating your apps and smartphone software, maximizing the app’s privacy settings, and never sharing risky content. Read more tips to protect your smartphone from viruses.

Are WhatsApp conversations private?

WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption feature ensures that all of your communication on the platform, including messages, files, and calls, is private and can only be viewed by you and the recipient. But Payton suggests thinking carefully about how much you trust the person you are communicating with in the first place. “Once you send something digitally, there is nothing preventing the receiver of the message from taking a screenshot or recording what you sent on a separate device,” she says.

How long are WhatsApp conversations stored?

For the privacy and security of users, conversations on WhatsApp are only stored on your device and not on WhatsApp servers. However, messages that cannot be delivered—if, for example, the recipient is offline or not connected to Wi-Fi—are held in WhatsApp’s server and only removed once they are delivered. Delivered messages are stored on your device indefinitely or until you delete them yourself, while undelivered messages are deleted after 30 days. In addition to old messages, you should never store these 8 things on your smartphone.

Can WhatsApp conversations be deleted?

The latest version of WhatsApp allows users to remove messages from their device as well as the recipient’s chat (within an hour of sending the message). To delete a message in WhatsApp, tap and hold the message, tap “Delete,” and then choose “Delete for Me” or “Delete for Everyone.” You can also turn on a self-destruction timer feature, which makes your conversations disappear after seven days. Once messages are deleted, you cannot recover them again. But don’t forget that recipients can always take a screenshot or record what you sent on another device before it’s deleted, Payton says. Once your messages are secure, learn how to arm yourself against 2021’s top security threats of smartphones.

Sources:

• James E. Lee, chief operating officer at Identity Theft Resource Center
• Theresa Payton, author of Manipulated: Inside the Cyberwar to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth and CEO of Fortalice Solutions