WeChat Will Reportedly Provide Cloud Chat Backup

The talk of the Chinese tech world this week has been WeChat’s announcement that the app will finally allow cloud storage chat history.

Up to now, the app has allowed users to transfer chat history from phone to phone or from phone to computer, but if users wanted to back up their chats on cloud servers, they’d have to use third-party services like iCloud.

The project is still in development and details have yet to be finalized, but it’s been reported that the prices will inexplicably differ for iOS and Android, landing around RMB 180 per year for the former and RMB 120 per year for the latter.

Some have also speculated that the backup service might look something like that of QQ, which is also owned by Tencent. QQ allows users to back up their data for free for up to 7 days but begins charging after that.

Netizens have, of course, expressed concerns about privacy. It’s a valid concern, but it’s worth noting that using WeChat rather than a third party would keep your data in the hands of Tencent, which of course, already has access to your WeChat data, rather than sharing it with, say, Apple as well.

Let us know what other concerns or questions you have for WeChat about their upcoming cloud services in the comments below.

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