Privacy-focused messaging app Signal announced Monday that it is rolling out a long-requested backup feature that lets users save their text conversations for free, along with the last 45 days of media. The update also marks Signal’s first paid feature: a $1.99/month plan offering 100GB of storage for full media backups.
Until now, Signal offered no way to store conversations in the cloud. Users could only transfer chats from one device to another, creating risks if a phone was lost or damaged. The new feature addresses that gap, making the app more competitive with rivals like WhatsApp, which already offers encrypted backups.
On the free tier, Signal provides 100MB of storage for text and compressed media, which the company says is enough for “even heavy” users. Paid subscribers, meanwhile, can store all media beyond the last 45 days.
To protect privacy, backups use zero-knowledge encryption and are not tied to a user account or payment method. Instead, users receive a 64-character recovery key generated on their device, which is required to restore backups.
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The feature is debuting in the beta version of Signal’s Android app, with cross-platform availability coming soon. Signal also plans to let users store backup archives wherever they choose and enable message transfers across platforms in the future.
