WhatsApp displays the text “is typing…” almost in real time as soon as a person starts typing in a chat. At first glance it may seem like a contradiction. If personal messages are protected by end-to-end encryption and their contents are not readable by the service, how does the app know that someone is preparing a reply?
The explanation lies in the way what happens within the conversation is handled. The indicator and the content of the message are in fact two different pieces of information and, to understand how this distinction allows you to immediately show the activity, you need to see what happens when you start typing.
How does it appear that you are texting on WhatsApp and when
The app can represent the action of starting to write as a temporary state of conversation. Therefore, there is no need to transmit the words in the text box to let the other person know that a response is being composed.
An analogy helps to understand this. Seeing a person take a pen and paper allows you to understand that he is writing something, but it does not allow you to read the words before they are shown. Something similar happens on the digital level. The indicator describes the action taking place, not what will be sent.
A concrete example comes from the WhatsApp Cloud API, the Meta interface that allows companies to integrate WhatsApp into their services. Among the available functions there is in fact a “typing indicator” which can be sent as a distinct element through the API, separately from the content of any text message. This tool does not document in detail the internal workings of the app used by users every day, but it shows that for the platform the typing indicator and the message text can be represented as different data.
Therefore, from the moment you start typing, the service can manage an activity signal separate from the text you are composing. If typing stops, this state can also change. When sending, however, the text becomes the actual content of the communication. Therefore, the appearance of the indicator does not imply that the draft is transmitted or read word for word as it is written.
The same principle applies when the indication relating to the recording of a vocal appears. The service classifies both typing and interruption as well as the recording of an audio note among usage information. It doesn’t mean the app needs to know in advance what will be said. It is simply communicated that a certain type of interaction has begun.
These signals make the exchange more natural. Knowing that the other person is preparing a response avoids, for example, interpreting a few seconds of silence as the end of the conversation. The app uses other information to describe what’s happening around a chat, such as online presence or read receipts. However, they are different elements. The first indicates that the person is using the app, the ticks concern a message already sent, while “he is writing…” describes an activity still in progress.
The distinction also serves to avoid another misunderstanding. The writing “is writing…” is not a prediction of what will be sent and has nothing to do with the predictive text of the keyboard, which can suggest words based on the characters already entered. The indicator simply communicates that the person is typing in the chat.
The 3 ellipses activity indicators and end-to-end encryption
End-to-end encryption protects the content of messages, but this does not mean that every information necessary for the operation of the service must be treated in the same way. Meta indicates the Signal protocol as the basis of the WhatsApp encryption system and as a reference for maintaining the same level of security even in chats with third-party apps.
When a message is actually sent, the Signal protocol secures the communication from one end to the other. The content remains accessible only to the participants involved in the exchange, while WhatsApp cannot read it.
The fundamental point is that protecting the content of messages does not mean making all the signals linked to the use of the service invisible. To make a messaging app work, you also need information that describes what happens around the conversation, such as the online or offline status and indicators relating to typing or recording a voice.
This information is therefore distinct from the content of the message. The platform can manage a chat state without needing to know the sentence the user is composing.
It’s the same difference between knowing a phone call is in progress and knowing what people are saying. The first information describes the existence of the interaction, the second concerns what is communicated. In the case of WhatsApp, “is typing…” belongs to the first group.
For this reason the indicator does not in itself represent a flaw in the protection of conversations. The system can show the recipient that the other person is busy typing and, at the same time, keep the text of the actual message separate. End-to-end encryption protects the latter when it is exchanged between participants.
Ultimately, the mechanism that allows you to show when a person is typing makes the difference between the content of a communication and the data that describes what happens in the chat clear. Encryption protects the former, while some activity signals allow the app to make the conversation more immediate and interactive.
