WhatsApp launches end-to-end encrypted chat back-ups

The WhatsApp set-up screen for end-to-end encrypted back-ups (WhatsApp)

WhatsApp will now allow users to end-to-end encrypt their chat history back-ups as an “extra, optional layer of security” to protect an account.

The Facebook-owned messaging service said the system would enable users on both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android to encrypt the back-up of their conversations that is stored on either Google Drive or iCloud, a level of security “no other global messaging service at this scale provides”.