5 ms·

E2EE will never be the default, because people lose their devices all the time, and don't want to lose message history.

jeroenhd 21d ago
WhatsApp doesn't even have the option to disable e2ee anymore and it's doing just fine, despite their best efforts to screw over their customers.
- mahboi 21d ago
  WhatsApp depends heavily on centralization.
codedokode 21d ago
Who are those people having lot of time to re-read their old message history? I assume most people only read last several messages in a chat. This matches the real life conversations which are not stored anywhere. However, police will definitely be happy to discover that your many years messaging history is intact. I would rather want a feature, like Telegram has, where you can set auto-delete of all messages older than N days.
- jprjr_ 20d ago
  For me searching my old messages is really useful. I don't scroll back through history but I'll search for things like "plumber" to find the number of a plumber a friend texted me a while back.
- aboardRat4 20d ago
  >Who are those people having lot of time to re-read their old message history? Everyone who has to, say, prove that they kept paying their rent for a year without interruptions. You sent a photo of your money transfer from the bank app to your landlord, and he sends the "received" screenshot from his bank app. Moreover, a lot (even most) people make personal notes by sending messages to themselves.
- aboardRat4 20d ago
  >police will definitely be happy Most people trust the police. This might not be justified in your state, but most people still do.
  - bdangubic 20d ago
    the only people that really trust the police are ones that never actually had to deal with the police (which may be a whole lot of people). however, if you ever have an unfortunate situation to have a run in with the police, there is a good chance you will not be all that trusting any longer. people trust the idea of police more so than anything else
    - aboardRat4 20d ago
      Well, true. But even so, having the history intact is also a way to remove suspicions from yourself. "Where were you during the event X? I was very far from the place you are interested in, as can be proven by this photo, sent to my grandma, have a look at the history in her phone."
andix 21d ago
It's the default/only option for popular apps like Signal or WhatsApp. If message history is important it should be backed up on the receiver's end after decryption, like WhatsApp and signal do.

WhatsApp doesn't even have the option to disable e2ee anymore and it's doing just fine, despite their best efforts to screw over their customers.

mahboi 21d ago
WhatsApp depends heavily on centralization.

codedokode 21d ago

Who are those people having lot of time to re-read their old message history? I assume most people only read last several messages in a chat. This matches the real life conversations which are not stored anywhere. However, police will definitely be happy to discover that your many years messaging history is intact. I would rather want a feature, like Telegram has, where you can set auto-delete of all messages older than N days.

jprjr_ 20d ago
For me searching my old messages is really useful. I don't scroll back through history but I'll search for things like "plumber" to find the number of a plumber a friend texted me a while back.
aboardRat4 20d ago
>Who are those people having lot of time to re-read their old message history? Everyone who has to, say, prove that they kept paying their rent for a year without interruptions. You sent a photo of your money transfer from the bank app to your landlord, and he sends the "received" screenshot from his bank app. Moreover, a lot (even most) people make personal notes by sending messages to themselves.
aboardRat4 20d ago
>police will definitely be happy Most people trust the police. This might not be justified in your state, but most people still do.
- bdangubic 20d ago
  the only people that really trust the police are ones that never actually had to deal with the police (which may be a whole lot of people). however, if you ever have an unfortunate situation to have a run in with the police, there is a good chance you will not be all that trusting any longer. people trust the idea of police more so than anything else
  - aboardRat4 20d ago
    Well, true. But even so, having the history intact is also a way to remove suspicions from yourself. "Where were you during the event X? I was very far from the place you are interested in, as can be proven by this photo, sent to my grandma, have a look at the history in her phone."

andix 21d ago

It's the default/only option for popular apps like Signal or WhatsApp. If message history is important it should be backed up on the receiver's end after decryption, like WhatsApp and signal do.