The long wait is finally over. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday that it is now possible to encrypt your WhatsApp chat history on both Android and iOS. The company intends to gradually roll out the feature to ensure that it can provide a consistent and reliable experience to all users.
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However, once you have access to the feature, you will be able to secure your backups before they are sent to iCloud or Google Drive. Neither WhatsApp nor your cloud service provider will be able to access the files at that point.
It’s also worth noting that if you ever lose the 64-digit encryption key that secures your chat logs, you won’t be able to recover your backups. However, you can also encrypt your backups with a password, which you can recover if you ever forget it.
While WhatsApp has allowed users to securely message each other since 2016, it only recently began testing encrypted backups. The company said today that it has taken the final step toward providing a fully end-to-end encrypted messaging experience.
It’s important to note that end-to-end encryption does not guarantee complete privacy protection.
According to an August report by The Information, Facebook was looking into an AI that could analyze encrypted data without having to decrypt it in order to serve ads based on that information.
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The head of WhatsApp denied the report, but it serves as a reminder that privacy is more than just the presence of end-to-end encryption.
