Ammon News - WhatsApp is planning to bring a new feature that would allow users to back up their chats to its own encrypted cloud storage. While users already have the option to back up their chats to Google Drive and iCloud, the new feature could help make the backup process more streamlined than before.

As per a report by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is developing a feature that will let users back up their chats on its own encrypted cloud storage. An image from the report revealed that Android users will be greeted with two options for cloud backup: Google Drive and WhatsApp’s own cloud storage, which offers 2 GB of free storage.

Users who choose to back up their chats on WhatsApp’s encrypted cloud storage will have the option to secure their backup with a passkey, a password, or a 64-digit encryption key. This also enables encryption for backing up WhatsApp data to Google Drive or iCloud, which is currently optional.

If users choose to upload their data to WhatsApp servers, encryption will be mandatory for all stored data. Users will also be able to decide which encryption method they will prefer to rely on. The default suggestion by WhatsApp is passkey-based encryption. If users refrain from using a password, they will be able to encrypt their backup using a password or a 64-digit encryption key.

WABetaInfo further reports that WhatsApp plans to offer a 50 GB cloud storage plan priced at around $0.99. That is likely the monthly charge, but it could be useful, as 2 GB of space may not be enough for many users.

WhatsApp is still developing this new feature, and it is unclear when it might be available to all users. Once it is near completion, it is expected to be available on the beta channel for testing by beta users.