WhatsApp to Let Users Protect Their Chat Backups Using a Password
Earlier this month, WhatsApp made quite a few people happy with the official launch of the much-awaited dark mode. Users started requesting the feature years ago, and they knew that it's in the works. Facebook, WhatsApp's owner, took its sweet time developing and testing the new dark mode, though complaints from some iDevice owners who couldn't get it to work suggest that it's not perfect yet. Nevertheless, the developers are in the process of ironing out all the bugs, and the overall response to the new option is positive. It looks like there's another new feature that is currently being worked on, however, and people might be even more excited about it.
WhatsApp seems to be working on a password-protected backup option
The news broke earlier this month when WABetaInfo.com, a website dedicated to following the development of one of the world's most popular instant messaging applications, noticed a new WhatsApp beta version released through the Google Play Beta Program. WABetaInfo got their hands on the new app, poked through it, and discovered that it allowed users to protect their chat backups with a password.
Currently, WhatsApp account owners can back up their entire chat histories to their Google Drive accounts if they want to. That way, if they ever need to reinstall the application or change their device, they can easily restore all their previous conversations. If the new feature finds its way to an official version of the app, people will be able to set a password on their backups, and restoring the conversations without entering the said password will be impossible.
Unfortunately, nobody knows when the new setting is to arrive. The fact that it's available in a beta version goes to show that it will probably be released to the public at some point in the future. With no official announcement of any sort, however, saying when it's going to happen is not really possible.
Is the new feature really necessary?
Some of you might be asking questions around the logic behind the upcoming feature, and at first glance, at least, protecting a WhatsApp backup with a password does seem a bit unnecessary. As we mentioned already, the backed up conversations you export from WhatsApp are hosted in Google Drive, which means that if an attacker wants to get their hands on them, they'll first need to break into your Google account. There is a bit more to it than that, though.
One of WhatsApp's main selling points is the fact that it offers end-to-end encryption. Although the app has been forced to plug some security vulnerabilities over the years, people still trust its encryption mechanism, which is supposed to leave users' messages completely private. In theory, no one, not even WhatsApp's staff, can read your chats. In light of this, a plaintext backup is completely unacceptable.
You can probably see that putting a password on your WhatsApp chats makes a lot of sense, and we're pretty sure that many of you will be waiting for the announcement of a release date. In the meantime, be careful what you back up and how you protect it. Also, make sure that WhatsApp, like the rest of the apps you're using, is updated to the latest version. Software updates bring not only new features like WhatsApp's dark mode but also various security patches and enhancements that protect your data.