WhatsApp Rolls Out Feature To Protect Chat Backups On Cloud

The Facebook-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp has been speculated to test the end-to-end encryption for cloud backups for a long time. With this feature, WhatsApp will start protecting chats that are backed up in cloud storage services such as Google Drive and iCloud. Already, this feature has started rolling end-to-end encryption for the beta testers of Android and iOS versions.

Currently, WhatsApp provides end-to-end encryption for chats and it does not let anyone apart from the sender and recipient access these chats including both WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook. Soon, this end-to-end encryption will be enabled for the chat backups that are stored in cloud services as well.

WhatsApp End-To-End Encryption For Cloud Backups

As per a report by WABetaInfo, the instant messaging platform is all set to rollout safe and protected cloud backups for users with end-to-end encryption. If users enable this option, then they will be able to protect their chat backups on iCloud and Google Drive from unauthorized access.

Initially, this feature was spotted to be under testing on the beta version of WhatsApp for iOS. The messaging app was previously speculated to be testing a similar feature that will protect chat backups on the cloud on the Android beta version. The report goes on to state that Apple, Facebook and WhatsApp will not be able to read these chat backups on the cloud services as these will be encrypted with a 64-digit encryption key.

Users who want to keep their chat backups secured on the cloud will have to choose an encryption key or a personal password. Do keep in mind that WhatsApp will not help in restoring the chat history from an encrypted backup without the password. So, the password for encryption should be kept safe. If this feature is not enabled for the WhatsApp account, then the upcoming beta updates will help users receive the same, the report noted.

How To Enable Encryption For Cloud Backups

Furthermore, it shared screenshots revealing that the end-to-end encryption for cloud backups will be an optional feature on both iOS snd Android. So, it depends on users to enable the feature to protect their chat backups on the cloud from unauthorized access.

To enable this feature, WhatsApp users need to go to Settings -> Chats -> Chat Backup -> End-to-end Encrypted Backup. As only select users are receiving this feature right now, not everyone will be able to find this option under WhatsApp Settings. If this feature is not seen, then users need to wait for future updates and ensure that they are beta testers of the app.