When you tap Send on an end-to-end encrypted message, the server passes along a scrambled blob it cannot read — but the timestamps, your contact list and who you spoke to when are still visible to the company running the app

The message is scrambled on the phone before it ever leaves, using a key the server does not possess. What “end-to-end” actually promisesEnd-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a specific claim: only the endpoints — the sender’s device and the recipient’s device — hold the keys needed to decrypt the message content. Message sizes, message frequencies, and the durations of voice and video calls sit in the first category. It does not hand over message content, because it cannot read it. WhatsApp told the magazine the guide lacked context — pen registers yield no message content and apply only prospectively, never retroactively.