Signal Introduces Subscription for Secure Backup Features

The messaging app Signal has announced its first paid feature — the ability to create secure backups for media files and text messages. For a fee of $1.99 per month, users can access media archiving and unlimited text storage.

All data is end-to-end encrypted, and access is granted only through a unique recovery key. If the key is lost, Signal will not be able to assist with data recovery.

Signal explains that the introduction of a paid option is essential to cover the costs of storing large amounts of data. As a non-profit organization that does not monetize user data or display ads, the service is exploring alternative funding methods.

For users without a subscription, media is stored for only 45 days, while text messages remain without a time limit but with a cap of 100 MB. According to Vice President of Engineering Jim O’Leary, this amount should be sufficient even for active users.

Backups are created daily, independent of any account or payment. In the future, Signal plans to allow users to store archives in a location of their choice.

This new feature is already available in the beta version of Signal for Android, with a public release and support for iOS and desktop platforms expected soon.