No password, no problem: WhatsApp adds passkeys to lock chat backups

There’s a sort of intimacy to scroll-passing through old WhatsApp chats. Birthday photos, family voice notes, late-night brainstorms and friendships written over years. These are not just messages; they’re memory capsules. And WhatsApp has just changed how we keep them safe.

WhatsApp rolled out passkey protection for end-to-end encrypted backups, eliminating one of security’s most dreaded obstacles: remembering passwords or storing a 64-digit encryption key. It’s a shift that blends ease with serious cryptography — think unlocking your backup with your face or fingerprint instead of a code.

This feature builds on WhatsApp’s first encrypted backups from 2021 — a milestone that still relied on users safeguarding long recovery keys. As Wired noted then, it was “a major step toward universal encryption,” but it wasn’t necessarily user-friendly.

Now, WhatsApp argues, backups should be as simple, and as secure, as sending a message.

Passkeys live inside your device’s secure enclave. They're triggered by biometric authentication or your device passcode, meaning your backup key never leaves your phone. It’s security that's both invisible and powerful — a lock you don’t touch, only prove you're you to open.

The Verge framed it succinctly: WhatsApp is extending its existing passkey sign-in system to backups, completing a shift toward password-less security.

Meanwhile, Times of India reports it’s rolling out on Android and iOS, and toggled in the familiar Settings → Chats → Chat Backup interface.

No codes. No keys. Just a tap or glance, and your history stays yours.

This is not a flashy feature. It’s a foundational one.

Backups have historically been the weak seam in messaging privacy. Telegram stores backups in the cloud. iMessage encrypts chats but not necessarily iCloud backups unless users enable Advanced Data Protection. Signal avoids cloud backups entirely, pushing users to local transfer methods.

Meta wants WhatsApp to stand apart with secure backups that don’t sacrifice usability — and, for billions of people, this normalizes sophisticated cryptography.

Livemint emphasizes the simplicity: users can enable passkey-locked backups in a couple taps.

It’s encryption without the friction.

This move is part of a bigger shift away from passwords entirely. Meta enabled account passkeys on Facebook in 2023, a quiet counter-offensive to phishing.

With backups now on passkeys too, WhatsApp becomes a case study in mainstream cryptography adoption: security that blends into daily life.

Your chats are more than text — they’re a living archive. WhatsApp’s new passkey system says your digital memories deserve the same protection as your lock screen. It’s privacy made familiar, security made invisible.

In an era where convenience often beats caution, this time, users get both.