Metadata
The data about the data. Encryption seals what you said; metadata is everything wrapped around it: identifiers, timing, sizes. A private messenger has to be judged on both.
Metadata is information surrounding a communication rather than its content: identities, addresses, timestamps, frequencies, sizes. It is what remains visible to infrastructure even when content is perfectly encrypted.
What it is
Every network service sees some metadata. At minimum it sees IP addresses, since that's how the internet routes. The design question is what gets added on top. Account systems, phone numbers, and contact-book uploads turn metadata into a social graph; CarrierPony refuses all three.
Why it matters
Metadata compounds: enough of it reconstructs relationships without reading a single message. Minimizing what exists (no names, no numbers, opaque key-derived routing identifiers, envelopes deleted on delivery) shrinks what any observer or breach can ever learn.
Related terms
Common questions
Does CarrierPony hide my IP address?
No messenger's server can avoid seeing connecting IPs. That's how the internet works. If IP privacy matters to you, a VPN composes cleanly with CarrierPony. What the app avoids is attaching an identity to the connection.
Is metadata really that revealing?
Patterns of who-talks-to-whom-and-when have historically been enough to map organizations. That's why no-accounts is a security feature, not a convenience.
Get CarrierPony
Free private messaging and file transfer for iPhone and Android. No accounts, no tracking, no phone numbers.