Signal 8.0 Brings Encrypted Cloud Backups: How They Work

For years, losing your phone meant losing your Signal history. With version 8.0, Signal finally fixed that with Signal Secure Backups, end-to-end encrypted backups you can restore on a new device. The design keeps Signal's privacy promise intact: a 64-character recovery key only you hold means even Signal cannot read what it stores. Here is how the feature works, what the free and paid tiers actually include, and how to set it up without locking yourself out.

Key takeaways

• Backups are end-to-end encrypted. A 64-character recovery key, generated on-device, is the only thing that can unlock them, and Signal never sees it.
• The free tier covers all your text messages plus media from the past 45 days; the paid plan (around $1.99/month) adds up to 100GB for older media.
• The feature rolled out to everyone in February 2026 across Android, iOS, and Desktop.
• There is no password reset. Lose the recovery key and the backup is gone for good.
• Signal also added local backups for people who would rather avoid the cloud entirely.

What Signal Secure Backups are

Signal Secure Backups are automatic, end-to-end encrypted backups hosted by Signal itself. They let you restore your messages and media when you switch to a new phone, reinstall the app, or recover from a lost, damaged, or stolen device.

Crucially, these backups stay encrypted. Because the encryption keys are derived from a recovery key only you hold, Signal cannot read the contents of your backup even though it stores it. That is the whole design goal: convenience of cloud restore without giving up Signal's privacy guarantees. Version 8.0 rolled the feature out across all platforms, Android, iOS, and Signal Desktop, reaching general availability in February 2026.

Free tier vs. paid plan

Signal structured the storage into two tiers:

• Free: all of your text messages, plus media (photos, videos, files) from the past 45 days.
• Paid subscription: the same full text history plus up to 100GB of storage for older attachments and media.

Here is how the two tiers compare at a glance:

Feature	Free	Paid (~$1.99/mo)
Full text message history	Yes	Yes
Recent media	Last 45 days	Last 45 days, plus older
Storage for older media	None	Up to 100GB
End-to-end encryption	Yes	Yes
Storage optimization (offload old attachments)	No	Yes

The free tier is genuinely useful on its own, since most people care most about their text history and recent photos. The paid plan exists for people with years of media they want preserved. The subscription debuted around $1.99 per month, the company's first paid feature, with proceeds supporting the nonprofit's running costs.

There is also a storage optimization option for paid users that removes attachments older than 30 days from the device and shows them as compressed thumbnails, keeping the originals safe in the backup while freeing up local space.

How to turn on Secure Backups

The exact wording varies slightly by platform, but the flow is the same:

1. Open Signal and go to Settings.
2. Tap Chats (or Backups, depending on platform).
3. Choose Signal Secure Backups and follow the prompts to enable it.
4. Save your recovery key. Write it down or store it in a password manager.

That 64-character recovery key is the single most important part. Signal cannot recover it for you, so if you lose it you lose access to the backup.

Where you store that key matters as much as the backup itself. A reputable password manager is the easiest safe home for it, and if you are weighing how to move credentials like this between apps, our guide to transferring passwords and passkeys on Android covers the secure handoff standards now replacing risky exports.

Local backups too

Alongside the cloud option, Signal added new local backups for Android, iOS, and Desktop. These store the backup on your own storage rather than Signal's servers, and they support transferring chat history between Android and iOS. If you would rather not rely on any cloud at all, local backups give you a fully self-hosted path while keeping cross-platform restore.

Local backups also fit a sound general principle: do not keep your only copy in one place. The same logic underpins the 3-2-1-1-0 backup rule used for protecting any important data.

Why this design is different from iCloud or WhatsApp

It is easy to shrug and say "every messenger has cloud backup now," but the encryption model is the whole story, and Signal's is genuinely stricter. The historical weak point of messaging backups is that the backup is often less protected than the messages themselves. For years, a WhatsApp chat was end-to-end encrypted in transit but its backup sat in Google Drive or iCloud in a form the cloud provider (and anyone who compelled them) could potentially access, until opt-in encrypted backups arrived. An iMessage history backed up to iCloud has similar caveats depending on whether Advanced Data Protection is enabled.

Signal closed that gap by making the backup encrypted with a key derived from your recovery key alone, never uploaded, never escrowed, never recoverable by Signal. The trade-off is blunt and deliberate: there is no "forgot my key" link, because building one would mean Signal could decrypt your backup, which would defeat the point. You are trading a convenience most services offer for a guarantee most services cannot make. For the people who choose Signal in the first place, that is the right trade, but it puts the entire burden of key safety on you.

Other 2026 improvements worth knowing

Secure Backups headlined version 8.0, but Signal shipped several other refinements through 2026:

• A redesigned call interface on Android with larger buttons, a centered blurred profile photo background, and better color matching for system navigation bars.
• Pinned messages, so important notes stay at the top of a conversation.
• Signal Desktop for Linux distributed as an AppImage, making installation simpler for Linux users.

Frequently asked questions

Can Signal read my backed-up messages?

No. Backups are end-to-end encrypted with keys derived from a recovery key that never leaves your device. Signal stores only an encrypted archive it cannot decrypt.

What happens if I lose my recovery key?

The backup becomes permanently unrecoverable. There is no password reset, email recovery, or support override, that is a deliberate consequence of the end-to-end encryption design. Store the key somewhere durable.

Do I have to pay to use Secure Backups?

No. The free tier backs up all your text messages plus media from the last 45 days. The paid plan (around $1.99/month) is only needed for up to 100GB of older media.

Can I avoid the cloud entirely?

Yes. Signal's local backups keep everything on your own storage and support transferring chat history between Android and iOS, with no reliance on Signal's servers.

Should you enable it?

If you have ever dreaded switching phones because of your Signal history, yes. The free tier covers most real-world needs, and the encryption model means you are not trading away privacy for the convenience. The one rule that matters: save your recovery key somewhere safe the moment you turn the feature on. Do that, and a lost or upgraded phone stops being a reason to lose your chats.