Many people use WhatsApp to communicate. But the confidentiality of exchanges is not always guaranteed and your conversations can sometimes be read by third parties! How to know? Here are the steps to follow.
With nearly 2 billion monthly users, WhatsApp is one of the most used smartphone apps in the world. It is even the 3rd most popular social application behind YouTube and Facebook. Due to its growing success, many people wonder about data security and in particular the possibility of seeing conversations consulted by third parties. Meta, the parent company of the application, specifies that their confidentiality has been guaranteed since the implementation in 2016 of end-to-end encryption, which normally means that messages sent from WhatsApp Messenger can only be read by the sender and recipient.
But be careful, this is not always the case if you use WhatsApp through its website and not through its application. This form of use allows you to read your messages even if your smartphone and your computer are not on the same network, but this practice carries risks.
To verify that no one other than you and your recipients is reading your messages, start by opening the app on your smartphone. Click on the three dots located at the top right if your mobile uses the Android operating system or on settings at the bottom right if your mobile is based on the iOS operating system. Select “connected devices” and check if any foreign devices appear. If so, press and hold for a few seconds on the device you want to remove. Then log out so that this change is saved. Also be sure to only entrust your cellphone to loved ones, because you simply scan a QR code on your application to connect to your WhatsApp account from the website.
To limit your risks, you can also enable two-step verification. To do this, go to the application settings then click on “Account” then “two-step verification”. All you have to do is set a six-digit PIN code that you will be asked for every time you open WhatsApp. Do not communicate it to anyone and remember to regularly update the application so that security vulnerabilities are regularly corrected!