Signal has officially rolled out its long-anticipated secure backup system in the Android beta channel, enabling users to opt into encrypted cloud backups of their messages and media, a first for the privacy-centric messaging platform.
The new feature follows months of development and testing, offering a new level of data resilience while maintaining Signal's strict privacy guarantees.
The secure backup system was initially revealed in July during a public alpha test, with Signal engineer Greyson Parrelli announcing the feature on the project's community forum. That early test phase introduced the basic architecture: a user-controlled, end-to-end encrypted cloud backup system that decouples personal data from identifiers or payment information. Now, the system is being made available to a wider audience for real-world usage in the official Android beta app.
Historically, users of the secure messenger app faced the harsh reality that losing or damaging their phone meant their message history was gone with it. There was no server-side backup solution, by design, to prevent metadata exposure and centralized tracking. This limitation made backups the most requested feature among Signal users, especially those who rely on the app for personal photos, sensitive conversations, or important documents.
Signal's new backup system addresses that need while staying true to its privacy-first mission. At the core of the implementation is a 64-character recovery key generated on the user's device. Signal never receives this key, nor can it recover lost backups. If the key is lost, so is access to the backup, an intentional trade-off to avoid data centralization or trust in the server.
To further preserve user anonymity, Signal uses a zero-knowledge architecture similar to its private group system. Backup archives are stored without being linked to a Signal account or any payment metadata. Even users on the paid plan remain anonymous to Signal.
By opting into the feature, Android beta users can now automatically create a daily encrypted backup archive of their Signal data. The free tier includes all messages and the most recent 45 days of media. A paid subscription, priced at $1.99/month, extends this to include long-term media retention beyond the 45-day window.
While a subscription model is new territory for Signal, the organization explains that cloud storage costs necessitate a different funding model from ad-based competitors. Crucially, even the paid tier does not compromise Signal's privacy model as no user identifiers are stored with the backup.
There are, however, a few limitations. View-once messages and any messages scheduled to disappear within 24 hours are excluded from backups, preserving their ephemeral nature. Messages with longer disappearing timers are included unless deleted before the daily backup runs.
Signal's secure backups mark one of the most substantial changes to its infrastructure since its inception. The new system lays the groundwork for several upcoming features, including full cross-platform backup and restore, allowing users to migrate data seamlessly between Android, iOS, and Desktop. Future updates will also allow users to store encrypted backups in locations of their choice, increasing portability and user control.
Secure backups are currently available only in the Android beta, but a full public release is expected soon, along with support for iOS and Desktop clients.
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