In today’s digital age, losing data doesn’t have to be catastrophic. Thanks to cloud services and device synchronization, most information can be recovered with relative ease. Now, iPhone users have one more option to safeguard their data: Signal has officially introduced secure backups for iOS devices. This update follows the feature’s earlier rollout for Android in September.
The announcement was made via Signal’s official account on X, where the company also linked to its previous blog post detailing the Android implementation.
When the feature debuted for Android, Signal emphasized that secure backups would be opt-in and initially available only through the latest beta release. This cautious approach allowed the company to test functionality on a smaller scale before expanding to iOS and desktop platforms—a strategy that appears to have paid off.
The new backup system is end-to-end encrypted, ensuring that user data remains private and secure. It provides free storage for text messages and up to 45 days of media files. For those who wish to keep older media, Signal offers a paid option at $2 per month—marking the company’s first-ever subscription feature.
Signal explained the reasoning behind this decision:
Media requires significant storage, and transferring large amounts of data is costly. As a nonprofit that refuses to collect or sell your data, we need to cover these expenses differently than tech companies that rely on ads and data monetization.
Users who enable the feature will have their messages backed up daily. Each backup is protected by a unique 64-character recovery key, which is stored exclusively on the user’s device. This key is essential for restoring the backup, and Signal cannot recover it on your behalf—underscoring the platform’s commitment to privacy and user control.
