End-to-End Encrypted Backups on WhatsApp

WhatsApp was built on a simple idea: what you share with your friends and family stays between you. Five years ago, we added end-to-end encryption by default, which today protects over 100 billion messages a day as they travel between more than 2 billion users.

While end-to-end encrypted messages you send and receive are stored on your device, many people also want a way to back up their chats in case they lose their phone. Starting today, we are making available an extra, optional layer of security to protect backups stored on Google Drive or iCloud with end-to-end encryption. No other global messaging service at this scale provides this level of security for their users’ messages, media, voice messages, video calls and chat backups.

You can now secure your end-to-end encrypted backup with either a password of your choice or a 64-digit encryption key that only you know. Neither WhatsApp nor your backup service provider will be able to read your backups or access the key required to unlock it.

With more than 2 billion users, we are excited to give people more choices to protect their privacy. We will be rolling this feature out slowly to those with the latest version of WhatsApp. More information about how you can protect your chat backups with end-to-end encryption on iOS and Android can be found here, and more information about how we built it can be found here.

Turn on end-to-end encrypted backup

Open Settings.
Tap Chats > Chat Backup > End-to-end Encrypted Backup.
Tap Continue, then follow the prompts to create a password or key.
Tap Done, and wait for WhatsApp to prepare your end-to-end encrypted backup. You might need to connect to a power source.

Note: You won’t be able to restore your backup if you lose your WhatsApp chats and forget your password or key. WhatsApp can’t reset your password or restore your backup for you.
Turn off end-to-end encrypted backup

Open Settings.
Tap Chats > Chat Backup > End-to-end Encrypted Backup.
Tap Turn Off.
Enter your password.
Confirm you want to turn off encrypted backup by tapping Turn Off.

:story: Facebook Newsroom