system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: how secure / anonymous are texting apps? How easily can cops trace it?

I was in an argument with a friend about the anonymity of texting apps / burner apps / Skype calling, and I wanted to know, say if you don't use your actual email or information, how easy is it to still trace it to the user?
gpt
It depends on the specific app.

For some apps, it's not private at all. For others, it's possible for them to see who you're texting but not the contents of the text. Others are completely private.

In some cases, the answer is "it depends". WhatsApp, for example, didn't used to be private until recently - and it's only private if everyone in a chat has a reasonably up-to-date version of the app. When you create a new conversation in WhatsApp, it will show a message saying that the chat is private (if it is).