They are encrypted, but, not private, meaning anyone can copy your npub and see with whom you've been DMing, but not the content of the messages unless the conversations are "gift wrapped."
Discussion
Thanks !!
You're welcome.
If you want private messaging, it's best to do so off of nostr until better, more widely accepted DM tech is embraced.
Took me a while but you deserve a zap ! Thanks mate. And yeah, I figured as much. I wasn't really expecting nostr to replace my messenger app, but to me its a no-brainer to e2e encrypt DM's between two people by default. So I wondered.
Well, they are technically encrypted, but it's kinda like whatsapp in that ask the metadata is leaky even if the message content isn't directly visible.
It's still a work in progress. It'll be fixed eventually.