WhatsApp Messenger

WhatsApp is the default messenger across most of Latin America, South Asia, Africa and southern Europe. Where it dominates, “do you have WhatsApp” replaces asking for a phone number, and that network effect — not any particular feature — is the reason to install it.

What the listing does not spell out

Messages are end-to-end encrypted by default, including group chats and calls. What is not encrypted is the metadata around them: who you message, when, and how often. Meta retains that, and it is the part most people assume is covered when they hear “encrypted”.

Backups are the other gap worth knowing. Chat history stored to Google Drive can be encrypted, but you have to turn that on and set a password separately. Left at the default, your backup is readable in a way your live chats are not.

Practical notes

• The account is tied to a phone number. Changing numbers requires migrating in-app before the old SIM lapses, or the history is stranded.
• Linked devices work without the phone being online, but only up to four.
• Media auto-download defaults to on over Wi-Fi. On a device short of space that fills storage quickly; it is the first setting worth changing.

Who should look elsewhere

If metadata is your concern rather than message content, Signal collects markedly less. The trade-off is the one that decides it for most people: the people you want to reach are probably already here.