Signal Secure Backups now also available for iOS users

Users of the Signal messenger previously faced a significant disadvantage compared to users of other messengers when losing or completely damaging their smartphone: their chat history was lost. This seemed to be the price to pay for a messenger that particularly emphasizes security. With Secure Backups, this flaw has now been eliminated. After Android devices in September, iPhone users can now also enjoy the new beta feature. Signal announced this on X.

Secure Backups are an opt-in feature, meaning users must activate it first. With the new backup, Signal users can create a daily backup that is intended to maintain data protection through end-to-end encryption. In the free version, all text messages can be backed up. Additionally, media content from the last 45 days is included. 100 megabytes are available for this. For around two euros per month, it is possible to back up up to 100 gigabytes of data. This also includes media content older than 45 days.

Only the user has the key

This is the first paid offering from the Signal Messenger. The reason given is that storing content on servers incurs immense costs. Since Signal does not monetize user data or sell advertising, these expenses must be refinanced in this way.

To be able to decrypt the backup again, a 64-character recovery key is generated on the device. Since Signal does not provide a backup of this key, users are responsible for storing it appropriately. If it is lost, the backups can no longer be restored.

The messenger's addition, which is still referred to as a beta feature on iOS, can be found in version 7.86 under Settings > Backups. Signal backups were announced in June. The first Android beta was released in September via GitHub as an APK file. Backups can be restored cross-platform. For example, a backup created on Android can also be imported into the iOS version.

(mki)