What is end-to-end encryption in plain English

End-to-end encryption locks your messages so only you and the person you're talking to can read them. Not the company running the app, not hackers, nobody in between. It's like putting your message in a box, locking it with your own key, and only giving the key to your friend. The difference is huge: with encryption, only your friend can open it; without it, the company holding the app can read everything.

End-to-end encryption is a way of protecting your messages so that only the person you're sending them to can read them. The company that runs the app. Facebook, WhatsApp, Apple, whatever. Cannot read your messages, even if they wanted to or if a hacker broke into their systems. It works by scrambling your message into code the moment you send it, and only unscrambling it on the other person's phone. Without encryption, the company can read everything; with it, they can't.