End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)

End-to-end encryption ✕ Encryption turns readable data into unreadable code using a key. Only someone with the right key can read it again — the basis of secure communication and storage. More in the glossary → means only the sender and recipient ever see the content in plain text. Data is encrypted on the sender's device and only decrypted on the recipient's; everywhere in between — including the provider's servers — it stays unreadable. That's the key difference from ordinary transport encryption, where the provider could in theory access the data. E2EE is the hallmark of serious messengers and privacy-friendly cloud ✕ "The cloud" refers to services and storage that run not on your device but on external servers on the internet. You can access them from anywhere. More in the glossary → services, often paired with the zero-knowledge ✕ Zero-knowledge means a provider has no access to your data or keys — only you can decrypt them. Even the provider "knows nothing." More in the glossary → principle. See which providers apply E2EE consistently in the best cloud storage comparison.