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Whatsapp stored my wifes data
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2026
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Privacy
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https://snee.la/posts/the-workings-of-whatsapps-end-to-end-encrypted-backups/
This is my analysis of WhatsApp's backup mechanisms. The best possible thing you can do from a privacy PoV is to enable end-to-end-encrypted backups, which is disabled by default.
As far as I know, WhatsApp's backups don't go to meta's servers, but instead google cloud / icloud. If your wife logged into her google account before, had backups enabled (frequency is weekly afaik), and signed into the google account again on the new phone - WhatsApp will restore the backups from the cloud.
If you enable E2EE backups, then you'll be asked to enter your password, which only you can have. If you fail to supply that, your backups are lost forever. The implantation is a bit scuffed IMO, but still better than nothing. Things may have changed since I analyzed it in 2022.