If you want to keep your WhatsApp messages safe, the next update to this popular chat app could be critical.
Parent company Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, has announced plans to roll out a new passkey-encrypted backup system that lets you protect your complete chat history with a fingerprint, facial scan, or the passcode used to unlock your iPhone or Android device.
WhatsApp was the first messaging service to introduce end-to-end encryption for its backups. End-to-end encryption has been used to scramble and secure text messages, voice memos, documents, and videos sent within WhatsApp since mid-2016, but the same safeguards weren't afforded to backups until October 2021.
It ensures that you are the only one able to unscramble the contents of your backup. To do that, it ensures files stored in iCloud or Google Drive, the cloud storage solutions for iPhone and Android handsets, respectively, are unreadable without access to a password or 64-digit encryption key.
With passkey support, you'll be able to unscramble backups of your WhatsApp data using the same methods on your iPhone or Android device as authenticating a contactless payment
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With the latest shake-up, you'll no longer have to memorise or securely store an unguessable password or 64-digit encryption key. You’ll be able to keep your WhatsApp chat backups safe with end-to-end encryption and then unlock them with the same biometric methods you already use to unlock your phone or authorise payments.
The feature makes it much easier to safeguard all those precious memories stored in your chats — photos, voice notes, and important conversations — without the hassle of managing complex security credentials. WhatsApp says this update will protect your message history if you ever lose your phone or switch to a new device.
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Until now, securing your WhatsApp backups wasn't quite so straightforward. Back in 2021, the platform introduced end-to-end encryption for backups, but it came with a catch.
You had to either create a password or save a 64-digit encryption key to protect your chat history. The problem? You needed to remember that password or keep that lengthy key somewhere safe for when you wanted to restore your backups.
This proved tricky for many users. If you lost your device and couldn't recall your password or locate that encryption key, you'd struggle to access your backed-up messages.
For anyone who's ever forgotten a password at a crucial moment, you'll know how frustrating this could be when trying to restore years of important conversations — usually at a time when you're already stressed as you attempt to switch between phones.
When it launched the ability to end-to-end encrypt backups of your chats, photos, videos, and voice memos sent in WhatsApp, your only choice to secure the scrambled files was an alphanumeric password or a 64-digit encryption key
|META PRESS OFFICE
The new system is rolling out gradually over the coming weeks and months, so you might need to check your settings to see when it becomes available on your device. WhatsApp reached 3 billion active users earlier this year, and the update will eventually be accessible to everyone globally.
The beauty of passkey authentication is that you don't need to memorise anything extra. You're simply using security features already built into your phone – the same ones you use countless times each day.
The private cryptographic key never leaves your device, since it's the device itself that's vouching for you, which makes this method more secure whilst being far more convenient. No more searching for forgotten passwords or worrying about where you saved that encryption key.
To turn on this feature once it's available on your device, follow these simple steps:
- Open your WhatsApp Settings
- Select Chats > Chat Backup
- Choose End-to-end encrypted backup
- If you have received the update, you'll have the option to enable passkey protection
Your backups remain completely private, even with this simpler security method.
Neither WhatsApp nor the cloud storage providers — Google Drive for Android, or iCloud for Apple devices — can access the contents of your encrypted messages.
This update continues WhatsApp's shift towards passwordless security. The platform first brought in passkey support for account logins back in 2023, so this expansion to backup encryption shows the company is moving steadily away from traditional passwords altogether.
You can check your settings now to see if the feature has reached your device yet.
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