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The private messaging app Signal just announced the much-awaited feature for its users – secure cloud backup. For now, this feature is available to Android users in beta, with Signal promising to roll it out to more customers soon.
Signal Messaging App Rolls Out Cloud Backup Feature
Sharing details in a recent post, Jim O’Leary, VP of Engineering at Signal, revealed the rollout of cloud backup for chats and media for Signal users.
Cloud backup option has long been a demand from Signal users, since they had to rely on their devices to move data. In case of data theft or damage, users risk losing chats. However, with cloud backup, users may regain access to lost Signal data with just a recovery key.
Explaining this feature, O’Leary stated that Signal’s backup occurs on Signal servers, ensuring end-to-end encryption throughout. This aligns with Signal’s zero-knowledge practices, maintaining users’ privacy.
Afterwards, the backup archive is further secured with a 64-character recovery key generated on users’ devices. This key is different from the usual Signal PINs and remains private to the users. Users may choose to store this recovery key in an offline (writing in a notebook) or online vault, such as a password manager. Explaining the sensitivity of this key, the post urges users to protect the key as it’s never shared with Signal servers; hence, it can’t be recovered.
Your recovery key is the only way to “unlock” your backup when you need to restore access to your messages. Losing it means losing access to your backup permanently, and Signal cannot help you recover it.
This setting is currently available as an optional feature. If enabled, the app automatically backs up users’ Signal data every 24 hours. This daily backup replaces older archives, hence retaining only the latest chat data version. Any messages or media deleted, including self-destructing messages, would eventually be removed from the backup archive as well.
The backup feature is presently available in a freemium model. For free users, it allows 100 MiB of message storage and media storage for the past 45 days. To store media beyond this 45-day window, users may subscribe to the paid plan, available at $1.99 per month. Signal clarified that this paid subscription is essential to manage the costs associated with setting up secure storage for large amounts of data.
Cloud Backup Currently Available In Signal for Android (Beta)
For now, Signal has rolled out the cloud backup option to the beta version of Signal for Android users. According to O’Leary, this temporary hold will allow Signal officials to test the feature for any further improvements before rolling out to stable releases, including iOS and Desktop clients.
Moreover, the app also plans to empower users with more backup options. It’ll let them choose the location to store their backup archives, without compromising on privacy.
Despite being around for several years, Signal lacked a cloud backup option, citing privacy concerns. While the app initially had a limited user base, it gained popularity following WhatsApp’s changes in privacy policy.
The latter’s switch to users’ data handling practices triggered security concerns for many, leading to a substantial shift to other applications like Signal or Telegram. Given Telegram’s limited availability and closed access to intricate technical details, Signal became the top choice for privacy-savvy users for daily communications.
Since then, Signal has launched several user-friendly features and worked on strengthening its security, even up to integrating quantum-resistant end-to-end encryption. And now, the app seemingly has figured out a way to provide users with secure cloud chat backups. With this inclusion, the app will likely garner more users who hesitated using it before due to a lack of cloud backup.
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