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Still a false dichotomy.

Backing up locally with encryption then backing that up to the cloud is backing up to the cloud with encryption, just with an extra step. All your proposal does is expose the less tech-savvy to exposure. And, by your logic, if everyone did that then we’d be right back at legislated back doors.
Indeed if everyone did, which as far as you or I are aware they are not. So choice :)
 
Right, like I said, Signal has it too. But I don't know which of those two apps takes better steps to detect tampering. WhatsApp's client is closed-source, which doesn't help its case.
I responded before you added more stuff to your post.

Bottom line, granting the visceral dislike some have for Facebook, security on WhatsApp, apart from the unencrypted backups, doesn’t seem to be a significant concern.
 
Indeed if everyone did, which as far as you or I are aware they are not. So choice :)
You think people are making the conscious choice to avoid making encrypted backups and then storing those in the cloud? I think not.

Bottom line, encrypted items should, by default, be stored encrypted.
 
I responded before you added more stuff to your post.

Bottom line, granting the visceral dislike some have for Facebook, security on WhatsApp, apart from the unencrypted backups, doesn’t seem to be a significant concern.
I did, but the part you quoted had it. Anyway, there's more to it than that. WhatsApp messages may be secure, but that doesn't preclude Facebook from harvesting user data. It's reasonable to wonder, why would FB pay billions of $ for a service that they intend not to profit from, and how do they make their profits? Nobody will read, let alone trust, the ToS.

I personally don't care. WhatsApp is already too secure for me: The usability is hindered a lot to protect messages I really don't mind anyone seeing. If I were sending something highly sensitive, I wouldn't use it either, for the opposite reason.
 
You think people are making the conscious choice to avoid making encrypted backups and then storing those in the cloud? I think not.

Bottom line, encrypted items should, by default, be stored encrypted.
No the capacity for choice exists. I am not of course assuming perfect information or knowledge. If people are so concerned for whatever reason, they then research to find out how to meet the needs that have gone from lack of awareness to conscious, intentional thought. I guess a slight form of the some of the onus or ‘responsibility’ being on the person.
Yes it should all be encrypted by default, therefore leading to us to the outcome we discussed as before, legislative and governmental pressure due to particulars of the day, as faced in years past, and encryption has the back door it shouldn’t have in the first place.
 
I did, but the part you quoted had it. Anyway, there's more to it than that. WhatsApp messages may be secure, but that doesn't preclude Facebook from harvesting user data. It's reasonable to wonder, why would FB pay billions of $ for a service that they intend not to profit from, and how do they make their profits? You think I'm going to read, let alone trust, their ToS?

I personally don't care. WhatsApp is already too secure for me: The usability is hindered a lot to protect messages I really don't mind anyone seeing. If I were sending something highly sensitive, I wouldn't use it either, for the opposite reason.
It doesn’t prevent Facebook from grabbing your location or any number of other things. I’m sure they intend to profit from it, but that doesn’t necessarily include access to the messages.

As i said earlier, a lot of people use it to communicate and it is specifically included in many phone plans such that moving to something else would be more expensive. If that means Facebook knows their phone number or that they’re using the app in El Centro, that’s an acceptable trade-off to them.
 
Thanks Zuckerberg but I’ll still stick to having every conversation set to 7-day expiry on messages just to be safe.

one thing that bothers me (and prevents me from putting anything truly personal into iCloud Drive) is Apple’s lack of encrypted cloud storage. But I suspect it might be unfeasible to encryp/decrypt so much data efficiently and without major issues. Password protected APFS SSD’s it is for now.
 
I think the solution Apple have chosen to use is probably quite a good measure as it satisfies both sides. In that if people wish to keep the conversation totally private they can opt not to back up their messages to iCloud, and equally if the government wish to access these messages through necessary legal processes then they can do so, if the backups exist. This prevents a situation whereby if they are totally encrypted, Governments may end up taking further action to prevent encryption or insist on a back door which would totally undermine the purpose of encryption.
Messages is the only thing I do not back up to iCloud. No I am not doing anything nefarious evil or sinister.
 
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Messages is the only thing I do not back up to iCloud. No I am not doing anything nefarious evil or sinister.
This. Photos, Messages & iCloud backup are the 3 things that should be switched off on iCloud for privacy focused individuals. Airdrop is so fast and easy to do these days, sending photos to your Mac from your phone is quick and safer to do that way.

Apple: Please give us encrypted cloud backups.

671D5FFD-2B2A-4E47-8E8F-D05262E27EC6.jpeg
 
I’ve given up waiting on photos and backups being encrypted....i just don’t see it happening after all this time ...hope I’m wrong
 
one thing that bothers me (and prevents me from putting anything truly personal into iCloud Drive) is Apple’s lack of encrypted cloud storage. But I suspect it might be unfeasible to encryp/decrypt so much data efficiently and without major issues. Password protected APFS SSD’s it is for now.
For cloud storage in general, I suspect it's because they need to perform processing on that data. I don't understand why iCloud backups in particular, which should just be opaque blobs of data to Apple, aren't end-to-end encrypted unless it's about account recovery or government regulations. It seems technically feasible.
 
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No it's not. It somehow never works. Can't find the other device, or the transfer never begins, or the transfer fails. And it's slow. I end up falling back to nc or scp nearly every time.
I understand your frustrations, I've been there. I guess I should have added *when done correctly. For those who do encounter regular AirDrop transfers problems, make sure you are doing the basics of having both devices on, open and not doing other tasks, leave both devices untouched during the transfers. Sometimes on an iPhone the progress bar doesn't appear and it allows you to use Apps while a transfer is going on in the background however I still recommend not doing anything with both devices while there is an AirDrop transfer happening. As for discovery issues, you're right it does occur but not enough in my experience to warrant jeopardising the privacy that comes with having control of sharing files between your devices without the need of an unencrypted cloud-based intermediary.
 
I understand your frustrations, I've been there. I guess I should have added *when done correctly. For those who do encounter regular AirDrop transfers problems, make sure you are doing the basics of having both devices on, open and not doing other tasks, leave both devices untouched during the transfers. Sometimes on an iPhone the progress bar doesn't appear and it allows you to use Apps while a transfer is going on in the background however I still recommend not doing anything with both devices while there is an AirDrop transfer happening. As for discovery issues, you're right it does occur but not enough in my experience to warrant jeopardising the privacy that comes with having control of sharing files between your devices without the need of an unencrypted cloud-based intermediary.
I end up just jeopardizing the data. Even when I do everything right, AirDrop often doesn't work. Both devices discoverable to all, both have Control Center open (this sometimes helps). Sometimes I have to sacrifice a few lambs just to make one device see the other.

But seriously, my hunch is they messed up a bit with the backwards-compatibility. There are two distinct user-facing versions of AirDrop, and I'm not talking about that cause all my devices have the "new" one. Maybe it only works if both devices are same gen and therefore using the same or similar revisions of it. AirDrop is highly hardware-dependent in weird ways, so this wouldn't surprise me.
 
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I responded before you added more stuff to your post.

Bottom line, granting the visceral dislike some have for Facebook, security on WhatsApp, apart from the unencrypted backups, doesn’t seem to be a significant concern.
See below - individuals making the choice to do so exist, and as mentioned above, benefitting from being able to make that choice.
Messages is the only thing I do not back up to iCloud. No I am not doing anything nefarious evil or sinister.
Just to clarify Not my assumption at all that you are doing anything evil or sinister, you are opting to do because it suits your needs and preferences. (Whatever they may be :p)
This. Photos, Messages & iCloud backup are the 3 things that should be switched off on iCloud for privacy focused individuals. Airdrop is so fast and easy to do these days, sending photos to your Mac from your phone is quick and safer to do that way.

Apple: Please give us encrypted cloud backups.

View attachment 1740838
 
See below - individuals making the choice to do so exist, and as mentioned above, benefitting from being able to make that choice.

Just to clarify Not my assumption at all that you are doing anything evil or sinister, you are opting to do because it suits your needs and preferences. (Whatever they may be :p)
Where’s the choice to back up the messages in place, encrypted?

You don’t seem to be getting my point, so I’ll stop wasting the time.
 
Where’s the choice to back up the messages in place, encrypted?

You don’t seem to be getting my point, so I’ll stop wasting the time.

that doesn't happen for the reasons that we have touched on. if apple for whatever reason removed the ability to even encrypt them AT ALL, in any situation, and the messages weren't encrypted in being sent, then fair enough. this is really an argument about one particular way storing of a back up, which they also haven't rendered impossible/prevented encryption in other ways of backing up,which had they done, fair enough. as the users I referred to above, they made themselves aware of the situation and took on some of responsibility of it meeting their needs, for the situation as it stands.

and you haven't responded to regarding that path when that eventually becomes an issue for the governments of the day, legislating for backdoors.
 
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