Messaging app WhatsApp has promoted the fact that it offers end-to-end encryption. But as it turns out, WhatsApp messages and media backed up on Google Drive are not encrypted. This was discovered by some Android users after WhatsApp and Google shook hands on a deal. WhatsApp subscribers can store media and messages from the app on Google Drive without it counting toward the one-time free 15GB of storage allowed to Google account owners.

Owned by Facebook, WhatsApp confirmed that this is true last month when it made the following statement, "Media and messages you back up aren't protected by WhatsApp end-to-end encryption while in Google Drive." But this really doesn't take away from the service provided by WhatsApp. If you use the latter and are concerned that someone is going to read your messages and learn a deep, dark, secret, simply choose to store your messages on the smartphone in your hand.

Storing WhatsApp media and messages on Google Drive isn't the only way for an encrypted message from the app to be discovered. Similar to Google Drive, WhatsApp messages stored on Apple's iCloud also are stored without encryption.