Why is there a recent timestamp in the message of someone I haven't spoken to in over a year?

[Android Central Question]

I struck up a friendly relationship with a nice female in late 2021. By December we stopped talking completely and we have had no contact since then. I checked her whatsapp today and the timestamp in the message box (not last seen or online) like there was contact but was dated Jan 20 2023 but there was no message. Under that was the encryption note. What does the timestamp indicate?

 

[SpookDroid]

That just means the contact switched encryption codes on the conversation (the most common reason for this is migrating Whatsapp to a new device while keeping the same number).