Can the police access my WhatsApp (even after I delete messages?)

Have the police seized your phone or are you concerned that they will soon? Are you worried they are accessing your phone remotely? Holborn Adams is a team of expert criminal defence solicitors and we’re here to set the record straight about what the police can and cannot do when it comes to accessing your WhatsApp messages specifically.

 

Can the police access my WhatsApp?

It is possible for the police to access your WhatsApp but it is not always easy and in some cases, it can be impossible to read your messages.

WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted which means that only the sender and receiver can read the contents of the message. Nobody can intercept the message and read the contents – not even WhatsApp or the police.

That said, the police can access your WhatsApp (including messages and other data) using other means.

 

How can the police access my WhatsApp?

The police can attempt to access your WhatsApp using a few methods:

 

Reading directly from your phone

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) gives the police permission to seize your phone as evidence if they have reasonable belief that it will help them with their investigation. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000) means they are allowed to access and extract the data on your phone.

If you supply your PIN or password, they can easily get into your phone and read and extract unencrypted WhatsApp messages, media files, and other metadata associated with your account. If you refuse access, they can issue a Section 49 notice (from the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000))  to force you to hand over your PIN/password or face up to 2 years imprisonment (this is reserved for very serious cases).

The police can use various forensic tools to try to force access into your phone (like Cellebrite or Graykey). They can bypass the security on your phone, allowing them to access your WhatsApp.

 

Viewing on another device

The police can view your conversations with others on the other person’s device. They can seize other people’s phones as evidence if necessary in order to access their WhatsApp and view your conversations with them.

 

Access Cloud backups

Your WhatsApp messages are likely backed up to Cloud storage. Unless you have requested an encrypted backup by WhatsApp, these backed up messages will not be encrypted.

The police can request a copy of your backed up unencrypted WhatsApp messages from your Cloud Provider.

 

Accessing linked devices

You may have used another device to access your Whatsapp, like a computer or tablet. The police can view your messages if you are still logged in or if it is still stored in the browser cache.

 

Requesting Metadata

The police can get a court order / warrant to force WhatsApp to supply the metadata associated with your WhatsApp account and messages. This includes:

• Your phone number and other account details.
• Who you messaged .
• When you sent and received messages.
• IP addresses you used.
• Your device information (model, OS version).
• Which group chat conversations you are a member of.

They can also extract this information from your device if they are able to bypass security.

 

Hacking or Spyware

In very serious cases with very high-profile targets, the police can use hacking or spyware to access your WhatsApp messages. They don’t employ this method in most cases.

A spyware tool called “Pegasus” can infect your phone, allowing the police to access your messages as you type or receive them, listen to your conversations through your microphone, and view you through your camera, and more.

They can trick you into installing malware on your phone through phishing links or if you install a “trojan” app (an app disguised as something else which is actually giving them control of your phone).

Can the police access my deleted WhatsApp messages?

In some cases, yes, the police can access your deleted WhatsApp messages (or at least Metadata). They can do this in a few ways:

 

Extracting with forensic software

The police can use tools like Cellebrite and GrayKey to extract deleted messages and other metadata from your phone. When you delete a message, it is not actually deleted forever – it becomes a “hidden” file until your phone writes over it with new data.

This method works for retrieving actual messages and metadata.

 

Accessing from another device

On WhatsApp, you can delete messages from your device and not from others. If you do this, the police can seize the other person’s phone to see what your messages were about. If it is deleted from their phone, they may be able to extract their hidden files and metadata.

The other person may have taken a screenshot or similar of the message before you deleted it too.

You might have a linked device, such as your computer or tablet, and the police can access deleted message files if they have not been overwritten on these too.

 

Accessing from your or someone else’s Cloud backups

Your deleted message may still be on the Cloud – your own Cloud or the person you sent the message to’s Cloud. These are usually not encrypted, so the police can access them with relative ease.

 

Can the police intercept my WhatsApp messages in real-time?

The police cannot intercept your messages while they are being transmitted because they are encrypted.

They may be able to analyse things like keystrokes or listen to you through your microphone or watch through your camera if they have managed to install Spyware on your device – but this is saved for very high-profile cases. They would be able to see what you are typing to know what the contents of your sent message was.

Concerned the police may access your WhatsApp?

No matter the offence you are being investigated for, Holborn Adams are here to help you navigate the process and advise you on the best course of action if you believe the police will find incriminating evidence if they successfully access your WhatsApp.

We can confidently take on your case whether or not you have been charged. If you haven’t been charged yet, we may encourage you to consider pre-charge engagement, where you make a case to the police to drop the case before you are ever charged.

Reach out to our pre-charge solicitors today.

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