Signal: Create backup and restore – This is how you secure your chats

Signal’s backup feature is a quick and easy way to save your chats on your phone. If your cell phone breaks, you reset it or get a new one, you can easily restore the chats from the backup.

It’s similar to WhatsApp’s backup feature or the SMS Backup & Restore app, although Signal has a few limitations. You cannot transfer signal chats to other messengers and you also have to do without automatic cloud backups in Signal.

But there is a solution for the latter limitation: You can save backups created with Signal manually in the desired location, for example in the cloud. Signal is sufficient for a normal Android backup in any case. Start backing up your data as follows:

If you reinstall Signal and/or switch to a different smartphone, you can restore a chat backup saved with Signal as follows.

Signal: limitations and important notes

Important: Backups are limited in the iOS version. Export and import functions are missing in the iOS version, for example, and old signal chats cannot be restored via complete system backups via iTunes.

As mentioned at the beginning, it is not possible to transfer chats to WhatsApp or other messengers and vice versa. If you switch from WhatsApp to Signal, you can save your previous chats as described in the linked article.

Cloud storage in comparison: 13 providers in the test

By the way, with Messenger you are not tied to your smartphone, which is why you can also use Signal on other devices.