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Comment by losvedir | Hacker News Reader

I've been using WhatsApp on Android lately since I thought they partnered with TextSecure and were encrypting recent Android <-> Android messages behind the scenes. Is this not the case?

My impression was that WhatsApp was the most private/secure text messaging app at the moment, but this is making it seem like maybe it's not.

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This has nothing to do with e2e encryption, this is only the metadata of your profile, status and when you are online. I thought it was pretty well known by now that WA shares that info of you with everyone who has your phone number. The content may be encrypted, but it is anything but private.

Then the PR worked. The partnership was announced but the encryption isn't enabled yet.

I don't think that's correct. I was going off of WhisperSystem's announcement[0] where they say:

"Your messages may already be encrypted. The most recent WhatsApp Android client release includes support for the TextSecure encryption protocol, and billions of encrypted messages are being exchanged daily."

[0] https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/

It's not clear to me at all from that quote - I want to know that my communication is encrypted end-to-end, not that it may be encrypted. The rest of their statement is marketing speak.

(Not negative toward you, of course; you're just quoting)

WhatsApp is one of the least private and least secure apps at the moment. If you want security, you should use ChatSecure or Threema, which are properly encrypted.

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