Signal Private Messenger Rolls Out Secure Backups for iPhone

[Martin Bland]

If Signal can securely store a backup on their cloud, Signal can securely store a blob on my phone. A blob that should just copy along with the rest of my data when I upgrade phones. Any data security paranoia with regards to the on-phone blob applies equally to this cloud backup. Any data security paranoia can be mitigated by applying the paranoia safeguards to the key material securing the blob instead of to the blob itself.

I'm baffled by Signal's continued insistence on their cumbersome, user hostile, and backwards data migration process. It's dumb and it's likely the biggest hurdle blocking most people from using Signal. Most people will not realize at first that Signal's data doesn't transfer when upgrading a phone until it is too late and the data is lost. Losing data is inexcusable. The separate data transfer hassle is unnecessarily painful and a reminder to look elsewhere.

 

[joiwomcow]

Way too late for this. I stopped using Signal in 2022 when my phone broke and all my Signal messages were irretrievably lost without warning, despite regular backups of my iphone to my laptop. Signal should have revealed on installation that they blocked all attempts to back up data, to let the user make an informed choice - they did not do so. This is fundamentally dishonest. I will never use Signal again.

 

[joiwomcow]

Full encrypted iTunes backup is free, unless that doesn't backup Signal data

It does not. As I discovered. Signal blocks it.

 

[mbsdf9345992]

Not. What. We. Asked. For.

Just let us back up our own data to our own devices, FFS. So now backing up is a subscription too. **** signal.

Open Signal, go to Settings ... Backups... on my Android phone I see this screen:

I've used "On-device backups" to transfer my entire Signal message archive between three phones now - make backup, copy file to new phone, restore backup. Unless this isn't an option on Signal iOS, what you want is already there. Before they had the beta cloud backup option this was the only thing in the Backups screen.

Running the MacOS Signal desktop app gives me a second copy so as long as I don't lose both my phone and laptop I'm covered.

 

[platinumaqua]

It does not. As I discovered. Signal blocks it.

Thanks. I don't use Signal (and none of my friends use it so there's no reason to use it) so I don't know.

 

[svish]

Good to know about this. However not going to subscribe just to back up. Can transfer Signal chats during phone change and for just backups, happy with iCloud.

 

[SpotOnT]

You go ahead and believe what "they" tell you.

Belief is not required. The project is open source. Download the code and see for yourself.

 

[uacd]

I don't like it because interface is so unintuitive. Open Source (on paper) should not mean fugly UI and poor UX. Also all that bragging about privacy and encryption: yeah yeah yeah, go and try do something illegal with that thing, when cops get to you, you won’t even notice how they scrap all the data from your precious “face protected” iPhone and. NOTHING is private today, NOTHING. Either you are following rules, or you are not using any modern devices at all.

There is a reason people use Telegram or WhatsApp, even despite one being allegedly screened by Russian FSB, and another by US FBI: these apps are simply convenient. You can do a lot with it, Telegram even allows downloading tons of pirate content (up to 2 gb in size). So people just get used to these apps, simple as that. Signal on the other hand… constant messages that your chats are about to extinct, hard to use, failing notifications, what’s so good about it…

 

[Good User Name]

As stated in the Signal help docs: "An iTunes or iCloud backup does not contain any of your Signal message history."

Source: https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Backup-and-Restore-Messages

This is true but it wasn’t the context for my question. The context was free backups to iCloud somehow enabling every government on Earth to spy on you.