WhatsApp Builds 2GB Encrypted iPhone Backup Cloud as iCloud Stays Default

Q: WhatsApp's new encryption locks Meta out. Does this mean your chat history is lost forever if you lose your password?

Yes—if you use WhatsApp’s new end-to-end encrypted backup system and lose the credential that protects it, the backup can become permanently unreadable. That is the trade-off of the design. WhatsApp says these backups will be encrypted by default and that only the user will hold the means to unlock them. Meta and WhatsApp will not be able to read the backup or recover it for you. If you chose a traditional password or a 64-digit encryption key and then lost it, there would be no fallback recovery through Meta. The main safeguard is the passkey option WhatsApp is recommending. A passkey is typically stored in your device’s password manager and can sync across your trusted devices and ecosystem, making it less likely to be lost than a manually created password or long recovery key. But if you lose access to the passkey and have no way to recover it through your own password manager or device account, the backup would still be effectively lost. This does not mean your entire WhatsApp account disappears. WhatsApp accounts are tied to your phone number, so you can usually re-register the account if you still control that number. What you may lose is your old chat history and media stored in the encrypted backup. So the practical answer is simple: Meta being locked out improves privacy, but it also means recovery depends on you. If you enable the feature, keeping safe access to your passkey, password, or encryption key becomes essential.

3 articles · Updated · MacRumors · Jul 14

WhatsApp’s iOS beta code shows a new in-app backup destination that would let iPhone users store chat backups on WhatsApp’s own cloud instead of iCloud.
2GB of storage would be free, with a roughly $0.99-a-month 50GB tier and a 1TB option in development, though pricing and tiers could change before launch.
Backups on WhatsApp’s servers would be end-to-end encrypted by default, unlike iCloud backups, where users must enable Apple’s Advanced Data Protection to get equivalent protection.
The feature is not yet working for beta testers, iCloud would remain the default backup option, and WhatsApp has not said when the service will launch.
An Android version was spotted in development in April, suggesting WhatsApp is building a broader first-party backup alternative to both iCloud and Google Drive.