This archive report was first published on 19 July 2021.
As of July 19, 2021, WhatsApp has started rolling out a new feature that allows users to encrypt their chat backups in the cloud.
While WhatsApp chats are already end-to-end encrypted, the backed-up data stored in the cloud was vulnerable to access by law enforcement authorities or hackers. However, with this new feature, users can now opt to encrypt their chat backups, making it harder for unauthorized parties to access their data.
The feature is available in the latest Android 2.21.15.5 beta update, and users can enable it by finding the option in the Settings menu. To protect their encrypted backups, users will need to create a password or a 64-digit encryption key, which will be required when restoring their backups.
According to Wabetainfo, the password or encryption key will not be shared with WhatsApp, Facebook, Google, or Apple, and users will need to keep it safe to restore their chats from encrypted backups.
As Wabetainfo reports, 'It's always needed to insert the password when you restore a backup, otherwise you won't be able to restore your chat history. This password is private and it's not shared with WhatsApp, Facebook, Google or Apple. End-to-end encrypted backups also support an encryption key that can be used to restore your password. It can only contain numeric digits and lowercase letters between 'a' and 'f'. If you lose this key, WhatsApp cannot help you to recover it,'
