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Back that thang up

Losing your phone or even deleting the Signal app used to mean saying goodbye to your important messages. But no longer! Signal has just announced that it’s now rolling out a new feature called Secure Backups. This optional feature allows you to back up and recover your messages if, for example, you ever lose your phone or if you need to reinstall Signal on your phone. As always, backups are end-to-end encrypted, meaning the service operator can’t read your messages.

A screenshot of Signal’s backup settings in the settings menu on the mobile app.

Signal’s backup settings.

Screenshot via Signal

The free tier offers 100MB of storage for text messages, as well as the last 45 days of messages and media, which Signal suggests will cover the needs of “even heavy Signal users.” For more storage, a paid option will be available for $1.99, and will include 100GB of storage. Users can also store a password-protected local backup directly on their own device. Read more.

What you can do

  • Learn more about Signal. If you’re not using it already, read our guide to Signal for beginners. If you do use it already and want to dive deeper, read our guide to locking it down.
  • Backups are not everywhere yet. This has yet to roll out on iOS and desktop, so sit tight. Signal says these are coming soon. Right now, Android users can make backups using the beta version of Signal. If you are an Android user and want to get started right now, sign up and you’ll be directed to the beta version in Google Play, otherwise, you should also see these rolling out in your app soon.
  • If you use Signal’s beta on Android, open Signal and go to settings (tap the circle icon at the top left) > Backups. From here you can choose whether to make a Secure Backup or an on-device backup.
  • Take care where you store your recovery key. Signal doesn’t get a copy of the keys to unlock your message backups, only you do. In this case, Signal offers you a recovery key that will unlock your backup archive. Store these somewhere safe, like a password manager. If you lose this, you will not be able to open this backup archive.
  • Support their work. Like FPF, Signal is a nonprofit. If this is a service you value, consider donating.

Our team is always ready to assist journalists with digital security concerns. Reach out here, and stay safe and secure out there.

Best,
Martin

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Martin Shelton
Deputy Director of Digital Security
Freedom of the Press Foundation