As Signal previously announced, the developers are working on an end-to-end encrypted backup system. In this article, we share what we already know about the backup feature. One important note though: Since this feature is under development, things may still change until it is finally published.

Signal Android alpha testers can now try out backups as of this week. Testers can download a special version of Signal via the Community Forum. iOS and Desktop support will follow soon.

Backups hosted by Signal

Signal backups are hosted by Signal itself and allow you to securely and privately back up your messages and media. This means you can recover your messages and media even after your device is lost or damaged.

Backups are optional and you can delete your backup at any time.

Free and paid versions

There will be both a free and a paid version of Signal backups. The free version will include all your text messages plus media from the past 45 days. The paid version will allow you to back up all your media up to a maximum of 100GB. These numbers are subject to change.

The exact cost of the paid version is not yet known. In the alpha test version, $0.42 is used as a placeholder, a wink to the number 42 from the sci-fi classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Currently, Signal is considering a price of $1.99 per month, but this is not final. Signal also indicates that pricing may vary by region to make it affordable for people worldwide.

Signal is a non-profit organization that runs mostly on donations, and of course, these backups incur additional costs. Signal is made for you and your privacy — unlike WhatsApp, Signal will never show ads. That’s why Signal asks a fair price for the expanded backup subscription.

Dynamic media management

The paid version also lets you save space on your device thanks to dynamic media management. Your media will automatically be uploaded to the Signal backup and downloaded again automatically when you scroll up.

Backup frequency and mobile network option

For both free and paid versions, you can set how often you want Signal to create backups. You can choose between Daily, Weekly, and Monthly. You can also set it to only make manual backups whenever you want.

You can choose to allow backups over a mobile network as well. For users with limited mobile data plans, it’s recommended to keep this option disabled.

Disappearing messages and view-once media

Signal has carefully considered how disappearing messages should be handled in backups. The team decided to exclude disappearing messages that have been read and are due to expire within 24 hours, as well as any message with a timer shorter than 24 hours, regardless of whether it’s been read. Signal believes this strikes a good middle ground.

Photos and videos set for view-once are always excluded from backups.

Cross-platform backups possible

Signal backups will be cross-platform. This means you can create a backup on Android and restore it on iOS, and vice versa. Currently, the alpha test version is only available for Android, but iOS and Desktop support will follow soon. Those eager to try it on iOS can already pair an iPad with the Android alpha test version.

Privacy first

As always, privacy is Signal’s top priority: the backup system is designed so that backups are encrypted with a key only you possess. Moreover, backups are disabled by default and cannot be linked to any user — even payments are designed so they cannot be linked to a user account.

Improved local backups

Alongside the new Signal backups, local backups for Android will remain available. You can still create full local backups for free.

Signal is also working on an improved version of local backups that uses a new cross-platform format and only stores changed media. This will make new local backups significantly faster — just seconds instead of minutes. The improved local backups will be introduced shortly after the launch of Signal backups.

Availability

Signal backups are now available to the first group of testers via a staging build on Android. When this will be rolled out more broadly is not yet known. According to the developers, it will take at least several more weeks, and possibly longer if any bugs are found during this testing phase that are difficult to resolve.

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