How E2EE Works on WhatsApp:

[badsha0016]

A cornerstone of WhatsApp's privacy claims is its robust end-to-end encryption (E2EE), powered by the Signal Protocol. This technology is designed to protect the content of personal communications.


Signal Protocol Implementation: WhatsApp uses the Signal Protocol, a cryptographically strong, open-source protocol widely respected by security experts.
Device-Specific Keys: Encryption and decryption keys are generated and stored only on the sender's and recipient's devices. Neither WhatsApp nor Meta ever has access to these keys.
Content Inaccessibility: This means that once a message is encrypted on the sender's device, it remains unreadable by anyone, including WhatsApp's servers, as it traverses the internet. Only the intended recipient's device can decrypt it.

Temporary Server Storage for Delivery: Messages are temporarily stored hong kong phone number list on WhatsApp's servers in encrypted form only until they are delivered to the recipient. If a message cannot be delivered immediately (e.g., recipient is offline), it remains encrypted on servers for up to 30 days while delivery is attempted. After delivery or 30 days, the message is deleted from WhatsApp's servers. The same applies to media files.

No Backdoors: WhatsApp consistently states that it does not build backdoors into its encryption, nor does it retain copies of messages after delivery.
Optional Encrypted Backups: Users can choose to enable end-to-end encrypted backups for their chat history to cloud services (Google Drive, iCloud). When this feature is activated, the backup is encrypted with a password or a 64-digit encryption key that only the user possesses, preventing even the cloud provider or WhatsApp from accessing its contents.