Unique identifiers for your device

aburaihan66 · Post by **aburaihan66** » Wed May 21, 2025 6:39 am

Device and Connection Information:
Hardware Model & Operating System: Your phone's model and OS.
Battery Level & Signal Strength:
App Version:
Browser Information:
Mobile Network & Connection Information: Your mobile operator or ISP.
IP Address: Used to estimate your general location (e.g., city and country) and for diagnostics.
Device Identifiers:
Contacts: With your permission, WhatsApp accesses the phone numbers from your device's address book. This allows it to identify which of your contacts are also WhatsApp users. WhatsApp philippines whatsapp number data states it does not share your contacts list with other Meta apps for advertising purposes.

Customer Support and Other Communications: Information you provide when contacting WhatsApp for support.
Business Interactions: If you communicate with businesses on WhatsApp, the content of those conversations is end-to-end encrypted between you and the business. However, once the message is received by the business, it's subject to the business's own privacy practices (e.g., how they store, use, or share that data). News reports often clarify this distinction, especially with the growth of WhatsApp Business.
Transaction Data: If you use payment features within WhatsApp (like WhatsApp Pay), information related to those transactions is collected.
3. Data Sharing with Meta (The Main News Point of Contention & Lawsuits):

This is the most controversial aspect of WhatsApp's data collection and the source of most negative news and legal battles.

2021 Privacy Policy Update Fallout: This update made it mandatory for users to agree to certain data sharing with Meta for non-encrypted data. WhatsApp clarified that this does not affect the privacy of personal messages (which remain E2EE). Instead, it relates to interactions with business accounts on the platform and certain usage/device metadata that Meta uses for broader purposes, such as:
Improving Meta Products: To improve services across the Meta family of apps (Facebook, Instagram, etc.).