How to Encrypt Your WhatsApp Chat Backups on iPhone?
Worried about the end-to-end encryption of Whatsapp chat backups? Read here our step by step guide.
Whatsapp is one of the most popular messaging platforms around the world with over 2 billion monthly active users. You feel secure while chatting to your friends, family members, business clients.
However, there have been various loopholes in Whatsapp’s security features in the past. Last year, Whatsapp update its security feature with end-to-end chat encryption; i.e. the users’ chats are encrypted on the Whatsapp platform.
Even after the chat encryption, the government agencies, as well as the security agencies, could retrieve the chats from the cloud backup.
In October 2021, Facebook released the announcement stating that Whatsapp chats will be now creating end-to-end encrypted backups on iCloud and Google Drive.
What are end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp chat backups?
End-to-end encryption simply means that your data is password-protected and cannot be accessed by anybody else. By default, all WhatsApp messages are encrypted, but when you upload them to iCloud, iCloud may read them.
Using encryption, you can keep the backups safe and password protected.
How does encryption work?
So, the encryption works in the following way. When someone sends a Whatsapp message, it is converted into a format that needs to be decoded.
This data can be decoded by the receiver’s unique key. Since the data is encrypted and only for a certain receiver, it is literally garbage for the other devices.
The communications can only be decrypted and transferred to a new device from the cloud if you enter the password/ encryption key. The parent company Facebook says that it is now taking advantage of the hardware security module (HSM) which is a special hardware component.
Whatsapp is deploying this hardware security module to be used in Android and iPhone.
Who can access Whatsapp E2E chat backups?
No one else has access to WhatsApp’s end-to-end cloud backups except the sender. The encryption key or password are not accessible to WhatsApp, Google, or Apple.
The encryption key is saved locally on your device, and you can decode the communications if you remember the password or have the encryption key.
Why Encrypted Backups are Important?
From a security standpoint, this is a significant step forward, especially given anything stored on Google Drive and iCloud is not secured. WhatsApp users on iPhone and Android will get access to end-to-end encryption for backups.
To encrypt the backups, you can use either a 64-bit encryption key or a password.
However, this backup encryption is not enabled by default. You can do it by following the step by step guide that we have shared.
How to encrypt WhatsApp chat backups in iCloud on iPhone?
In the iPhone device, the end-to-end encryption backup on iCloud can be done within the Whatsapp application.
- Click on Whatsapp Settings and tap the ‘Chats’ option.
- In Chats, tap on ’Chat Backup’ option.
- Then, tap on ‘End-To-End Encrypted’ Backup option.
- The next screen shows the backup encrypted data turned off. Tap on ‘Turn On’ to enable end-to-end encryption.
- On the next screen, enter and set up the password or 64-digit encryption key. It’s important to note that the password must have at least 6 characters and one letter. Also, DO NOT FORGET YOUR PASSWORD, as you will lose access to all of your chats if you do. Because they don’t store the password, even WhatsApp or Google can’t help you decrypt your cloud backup.
- Tap on the ‘Create’ button at the bottom of the screen to create the encryption key. On tapping create, all your messages and media backups will be encrypted to the iCloud backup.
If you have iCloud Backup activated on your iPhone, an unencrypted version of your chat history is stored up to iCloud.
You must disable iCloud Backup and only enable WhatsApp to upload backups to iCloud Drive directly to avoid this.
How to turn off Whatsapp backup encryption in iCloud?
You can also turn off the Whatsapp backup encryption backup by following the steps:
- Click on Whatsapp Settings and tap the ‘Chats’ option.
- In Chats, tap on ’Chat Backup’ option.
- Then, tap on End-To-End Encrypted Backup option.
- The next screen shows the backup encrypted data turned off. Tap on ‘Turn Off’ to enable end-to-end encryption.
- Enter your password and tap Done. This way, your backup encryption will be turned off.
How to reset the encrypted iCloud backup password on iPhone?
Chances are that you might often forget your password for encrypting your Whatsapp backup.
You must, however, make sure that WhatsApp is still registered under the same profile on the original device. You will have to change devices if this requirement is not met
In that case, you can reset the password by following these methods:
- Click on Whatsapp Settings and tap the ‘Chats’ option.
- In Chats, tap on ’Chat Backup’ option.
- Then, tap on ‘End-To-End Encrypted’ Backup option
- Tap Change password in the next step and then ‘I Forgot My password’.
- Enter your iPhone password.
- Lastly, enter the new password for your encrypted backup.
How to ensure more safety on Whatsapp?
To make sure the chats are safe and backups are encrypted on your Whatsapp, they have also introduced other additional features as well.
Two-Factor Authentication
This feature adds an extra layer of security to your Whatsapp account. Using 2FA, you’ll need to use the PIN you set. To reset your pin, you can also add an email address.
Here is how you can enable the 2FA on Whatsapp:
- Open Whatsapp Settings.
- Tap on Account and then Two-Step Verification option.
- Enable this 2FA on Whatsapp.
- Ener the six digit pin that you had used on setting the Whatsapp.
- You can also enter your Email ID as an option in case you forget your password.
On tapping create, your 2FA will be created for Whatsapp.
Set Your Privacy Settings
If you don’t want strangers to see your profile photo, read your stories, or view your other personal information, change your privacy settings. All you have to do is put my contacts or only me as your last seen, profile photo, about, and status.
How to encrypt your WhatsApp chat backups on Android?
Similarly, you can also encrypt the Whatsapp chat backups on your Android phone.
- Open Whatsapp and click on the three dots. Next, tap on Settings and then ‘Chats’.
- Next, tap on Chat backup option.
- Under the Backup button, tap the ‘End-to-End encrypted backup option. This feature might not be available on all devices. So if this option isn’t showing up, you will have to wait for the update.
- Next, Press “Turn On” to enable end-to-end encrypted backups. To protect the cloud backup, you can establish a password or use a 64-digit encryption key on the next screen.
- Create a password for the backup. Make sure that the password should have at least 6 characters and 1 letter. DO NOT FORGET YOUR PASSWORD, as you will lose access to all of your chats if you do. Because they don’t store the password, even WhatsApp or Google can’t help you decrypt your cloud backup.
Conclusion:
So, this was our step by step guide on how to end-to-end encrypt your Whatsapp on iPhone as well as on Android.
We’ve also included instructions on how to disable E2EE cloud backup and reset the password if you’ve lost it. That’s all we’ve got from us.
