WhatsApp is working on adding cloud backup encryption to secure its platform further. While WhatsApp already supports end-to-end encryption, the chat backups stored in the cloud on Google Drive (on Android) or iCloud (on iPhones) are not encrypted. This leaves a loophole in the system as a hacker can access the said Gmail or iCloud account and retrieve all the chat data.

WhatsApp is looking to rectify this by adding cloud backup encryption to its platform. For this, you will have to password protect your backups as this will be needed for the encryption to work. Without the password, you will not be able to restore the chat backups as well. WhatsApp will not offer a way to reset the password for backed up chat data as well. Right now, WhatsApp can backup chat data to the cloud without requiring any password.

As per @WABetaInfo, this cloud backup encryption feature will soon be available in WhatsApp’s future build. It is unclear how this feature will work once WhatsApp rolls out multi-device support.

At the beginning of this year, the messaging platform was criticized for its new privacy policy in India, which led many to believe that WhatsApp would share chat data with Facebook. After issuing a clarification and delaying the rollout of its new privacy policy, WhatsApp announced that it would show in-app banners to explain the changes to its users better. If a user does not accept the new privacy policy, WhatsApp will eventually delete their account.

WhatsApp recently also rolled out end-to-end video and voice calling support for its desktop app.

iMessage Backups Are Also Not Encrypted

Similar to WhatsApp, even iMessage offers end-to-end encryption. However, this is not applicable for chat backups that are stored on iCloud. This means anyone with access to your iCloud account can download and access your iMessage chats.