WhatsApp Privacy — Can They See Your Messages?

While iMessage is king here in the United States, billions of people globally defer to WhatsApp as their main form of remote communication. WhatsApp is highly regarded when it comes to security and protection of user data. The app utilizes end-to-end encryption, an added layer of security ensuring conversations stay private between users. Many users enjoy this peace of mind, but the company's promise of top-notch security has been challenged and taken to court.

On Friday, July 24th, 2026, a federal judge dismissed claims that WhatsApp employees have unrestricted access to read encrypted messages of their users.

This lawsuit was made easy for the judge because the plaintiffs (users of the app who filed the lawsuit) did not come prepared– they had no evidence. The validity of their claims goes only as far as what they've been told by an unidentified whistleblower. They did not provide any facts or proof to back up their claims. Fortunately for them, the lawsuit is still live, and they have until August 13th to provide concrete evidence.

There doesn't seem to be much proven truth that WhatsApp employees have access to user encrypted messages, but there is truth to what they do have access to– and it's a lot. Your location and IP address? They know it. Who, and how often you message someone? They are fully aware. What device you message from? They got it. It's easy to read this and be alarmed, but there's a reason for it, and it boils down to the fact that it's fundamentally essential to run their platform.

WhatsApp collects your IP address and the device you send from so that their data servers know where to send your friend's party invitation– to you. Your texting frequency is tracked so that they can track down bots. They see a "user" that just sent out a thousand texts? That's a good sign of a bot they need to ban.

Above all else, your information is used as a tool to generate income. By showing users advertisements tailored to them based on information they collect about them alone, it accounts for 98.3% of their revenue. Where does WhatsApp play in this? While they don't see your actual messages, they know who you talk to/ are close with, and will exploit this information to show you similar ads as them, assuming you have similar interests or that you will spread the word to them.

If you are uncomfortable with how much information is shared with Meta, there are some solutions. In the settings, there is a feature you may enable called "Protect IP address in calls" which will prevent the person you are on the phone with from retrieving your IP address. You can also disable standard cloud backups to prevent Apple or Google from seeing your messages unencrypted. If you wish to keep your messages backed up on the cloud, make sure end-to-end encryption is toggled in the "Chat backup" settings.