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Unless you manually backup WhatsApp, you can easily lose access to important conversations, or worse, your contacts themselves. Here's how to backup WhatsApp to ensure that doesn't happen.
By Robin Barber (Associate Editor)
— Last Updated: 2022-03-02T15:28:24+00:00
Whether you’re about to move to a new device or just worried about losing your conversations, there are many reasons why you should backup your data. Helpfully, some apps — including WhatsApp — have ways to backup your data automatically. In this article, we’ll show you how to backup WhatsApp messages and attachments on your phone.
Although you can create a local backup on your phone, you can’t easily use it to move conversations to a new device and it won’t protect anything from most cybercrime or physical damage. Instead, you should keep a copy in the cloud. Luckily, it only takes a few taps to save all your WhatsApp data to either Google Drive or iCloud.
The easiest way to backup WhatsApp is with the built-in feature that lets you save your chats to either iCloud or Google Drive — on iOS or Android, respectively.
Simply go into “settings,” “chats” then “chat backup.” Here, there will be a backup button and an auto-backup feature that you can set up.
When you install WhatsApp on your phone, it will ask you if it should restore chat histories. Make sure that your backup is on your device or your connected cloud storage — either Google Drive or iCloud — before downloading it, and then choose that option when it appears.
Simply follow the method to backup your WhatsApp data either locally or to the cloud, and then you can download that data file to your new device. However, if you’ve connected your phone to your iCloud or Google account, you should be able to restore your data without downloading it first.
For most Apple device users, you’ll want to backup your WhatsApp chats to your iCloud storage — and you can read more on this service in our full iCloud review. You could backup everything on your iPhone, but the best way to backup just WhatsApp is to use the backup feature that’s built into the app, which is a simple four-step process.
When you open WhatsApp from your home screen, you’ll notice five buttons along the bottom. Select the option on the far right, labeled “settings.”
In WhatsApp, tap the “settings” icon in the bottom-right corner.
Choose “chat backup” from the “chats” page.
Go into your chat backup settings.
You can either tap “back up now” to start the backup process or select “auto backup” and change your backup frequency.
Tap “back up now” to start creating a backup.
Although the process is similar, WhatsApp puts its buttons in slightly different places on Android devices. It’ll also save everything to your Google Drive account. Note that with this service, you give up some privacy and security in return for high speeds and a great third-party integration — and you can find out more in our full Google Drive review.
Choose “settings” from the dropdown list.
Choose “settings” from the dropdown menu.
In WhatsApp’s settings, tap “chats” to get access to your conversation settings.
Go into your “chats” settings.
You’ll find “chat backup” near the bottom of the page, next to an icon in the shape of a cloud.
Tap “chat backup” for your backup options.
Tap on “back up” to do a manual backup or “back up to Google Drive” to set your backup frequency. If you haven’t connected your phone to a Google account, it will only create a local backup.
Start to back your messages up to your Google drive.
With neither iCloud nor Google Drive being among the best cloud storage services for security, you may be worried about the privacy of your conversations.
Luckily, you can use a more secure service by saving your backup files to your preferred remote storage app.
Sync.com’s incredible mobile app makes it one of the best.
At this point, it’s no surprise that Sync.com is our favorite cloud storage provider. Although our full Sync.com review goes into more detail, when it comes down to it, 2TB of space with high-end security for both PC and mobile devices at only $8.00 per month is practically unbeatable, plus you can get 5GB of cloud storage for free.
pCloud is a solid option, especially for high-speed transfers.
Despite pCloud’s odd choice to make zero-knowledge encryption a paid add-on, pCloud and Sync.com are closely matched. If you’re looking for ease of use and speed, and you’re willing to pay extra for security, check out our full pCloud review. You can get started with 10GB of free cloud storage.
Icedrive is a young service, but it’s still one of the best.
Although it is newer to the cloud storage scene, Icedrive ties with Sync.com in our comparison. It doesn’t lack much in any category, including providing 10GB of free space — even if its customer support could be improved — and it’ll definitely keep your data safe. So if you’re willing to go for a younger service, read our full Icedrive review for more information.
To restore WhatsApp from a backup, you’re going to need to reinstall it from an app store, such as Google Play. However, as WhatsApp limits how often you can receive verification text messages to a specific phone number, you should make sure you know what you’re doing before you begin.
In order to restore your WhatsApp message history, you’ll need to allow access to your contacts, photos, media and files. Start by tapping “continue.”
You need to tap “continue” to start the process.
Make sure to allow every permission that WhatsApp asks for, or else you won’t be able to restore your messages.
Allow the permissions that WhatsApp asks for.
After it has found a backup file, check that it’s from the source you expected and tap “restore” to recover all of your conversations.
Check to make sure it’s recovering from the right email address and tap “restore.”
Once you’ve restored your WhatsApp chats from the backup, tap “next” to finish setting it up.
Tap “next” and finish setting up WhatsApp.
Whether you’re an iOS or an Android user, there’s no reason you can’t backup your WhatsApp chats and conversations.
You can then use this backup to quickly recover all of your messages, as well as any photos, videos and other attachments that have been part of a conversation.
If you have saved your WhatsApp data to the cloud but can’t see it in there, be sure to look in your backup folder. Providers often keep this separate, so people don’t damage their backups by accident, but you can usually still access it through the official web page on your computer.
However, if you don’t need to use this recovery feature and are limited in space, you can instead use the “export chat” option under “chat history.” This’ll create a text file of the conversation you had with one person. You can even ignore photos and videos, so it doesn’t take up too much memory.
Keep in mind that to accomplish the backup you’ll need a reliable VPN to bypass the WhatsApp ban in Dubai and other countries where WhatsApp is banned. We also have a guide on how to unblock WhatsApp in China.
If you don’t plan on using WhatsApp anymore, our guide will help you understand how to delete your WhatsApp account and this piece will help you find a WhatsApp alternative.
Plus, we also have a guide on how to recover data from a broken phone, in case you need it.
Have you tried to backup WhatsApp on your phone? Did you use one of these methods to keep your conversations safe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks for reading.
Let us know if you liked the post. That’s the only way we can improve.
Bradley Harvey | Sep 16, 2022
A veteran data engineer, experienced in data processing, data flow and data migration, etc. Also a heavy WhatsApp user, he helps you know the ins and outs of WhatsApp data transfer better than anyone else.
About a week ago, as I was talking to someone on WhatsApp, it paused.
A message was displayed on the screen saying that WhatsApp is backing up the chats. That got me thinking about where the WhatsApp backup is stored on iCloud Drive or Google Drive, and is there any way that we can access it and see what’s actually inside a WhatsApp backup?
I dug into the internet and found some interesting and some disturbing information that you might find helpful.
The first thing that I discovered was that Android phones use Google Drive to backup WhatsApp data.
That immediately made me think, even if I stop using WhatsApp, all my data will be on Google Drive, and I personally don’t feel comfortable with my data being on the cloud, especially when I am not even using it.
To delete the data, it is necessary to know where it is stored. Here’s how you can find your WhatsApp data on your Google Drive.
” find whatsapp on google drive
That solved part of the problem for me. I could delete the backup (which I did not do because I am not planning to stop using WhatsApp anytime soon) backup but not see what actually was inside it.
Here are the three things you need to know about WhatsApp backups stored on Google Drive:
As I was doing this research, one of my friends asked me what I was doing. When I told her, she asked me to dig a bit about iCloud WhatsApp backup because, for some reason, she thinks that Android is a thing of past – and iPhone is the way forward.
Here is what I found.
As we all know, Apple is super-sensitive when it comes to security and privacy.
To make sure that the backed-up WhatsApp data of iPhone users is secure and out of the reach of anyone with bad intentions, Apple does not let users access the backup files on iCloud.
access whatsapp backup on icloud
However, there is one way that you can access your WhatsApp backup. For this, you need to do the following:
access backup whatsapp with itunes
All that brings us to one big question: how can we access the contents of WhatsApp backup for any device?
The answer to that lies in a smart little tool called Mobitrix WhatsApp Transfer.
So far, we have established that neither Google nor Apple lets you access the specific files inside a WhatsApp better.
However, that does not mean that you cannot access them at all.
The tool that can make it possible is Mobitrix WhatsApp Transfer . It is a 100% safe and secure tool that can be used for WhatsApp data backup, transfer, and restore across different operating systems.
What makes Mobitrix the best tool when it comes to WhatsApp backups? The following features:
Now, the next logical question is, how do we use this tool?
One of the other tricks up the sleeve of this tool is that it is incredibly simple and easy to use.
You can backup your WhatsApp data using this tool in the following three simple steps:
backup whatsapp to pc
Your WhatsApp data will be instantly backed up to your computer. You can see it, explore what’s inside and manage it. The best part is, even if you make the backup from an iPhone and want to restore it to an Android device or make one on an Android device and want to transfer to an iPhone, that is also possible.
Summary
You can access your WhatsApp backup on Google Drive by going to the backups section, where you can delete or restore it. However, it is not able to access backup files on iCloud Drive. You can also not view the contents of a backup in either of the cases.
Mobitrix WhatsApp Transfer is a third-party tool that can be used to make and restore WhatsApp backups.
The backups made by this tool are saved on your computer and are not vulnerable to any attack. You can also access them and view the files inside them whenever needed.
Many people often hesitate to delete WhatsApp because they are not sure if they will be able to restore their messages later. There are cases when all correspondence is really deleted, and it is no longer possible to return it. To prevent this from happening, you need to enable WhatsApp message backup : in this case, chats can always be restored. However, this feature is often disabled by default, and if you do not want your correspondence to be permanently deleted, it is better to activate it. nine0005
If you create a backup, you can reinstall WhatsApp
Follow the steps below to back up WhatsApp chats.
Create a backup to restore WhatsApp chats later
WhatsApp will immediately start backing up chats to the cloud, so that in which case you can always return your correspondence to .
In the same menu, we recommend setting automatic WhatsApp backups - you can choose once a month or at least every day.
If you have a backup of your chats, restoring it is easy.
Restoring will take a few minutes
All media files (photos, videos and documents) will also be restored, but it will take a little longer.
Read on AndroidInsider.ru : what to do if WhatsApp stops working.
Another useful WhatsApp hack is that you can reply to messages without anyone seeing or knowing if you were online. The method is rather unusual, but working. nine0005
Despite the fact that WhatsApp can hardly be called the most secure and convenient instant messenger in the world, hundreds of millions of users around the world use it daily as the main tool for communicating with colleagues at work, loved ones and business partners.
Although we prefer Telegram, so the whole crowd of AppleInsider.ru readers is there. Pavel Durov's project has incorporated all the best - strong encryption that ensures the confidentiality of correspondence, high speed and many useful and thoughtful options. In a certain sense, Telegram resembles Apple products. nine0005
What useful WhatsApp life hacks do you know? Share with others in the comments.
App StoreApp Reviews for iOS and MacApple tips
A question pops up on the Internet: "Where is the WhatsApp backup stored on my Android phone?". So, if we talk about a real backup, it is stored in WhatsApp clouds. But you need to know more about WhatsApp backup. Let's explore! nine0005
The real WhatsApp backup is stored in Google Drive (also called WhatsApp cloud).
Therefore, whenever we change the phone or restart it, WhatsApp automatically detects our data after logging into our Google account and restores it. nine0005
Since we already know that our WhatsApp backup is stored in Google Drive, the next question is: where is the WhatsApp chat backup stored in Google Drive? Well, it's also important to know that the WhatsApp backup folder is actually hidden in Google Drive. The Google drive backup file does not appear until you do the following:0005
Now wait a while and scroll down, you will see whatsapp messenger. Since the list is in alphabetical order, you need to scroll a bit for whatsapp.
So, you already know where the WhatsApp backup is currently stored on Google Drive. Keep reading to find out
If you want to restore a WhatsApp backup, please make sure you use the same Google account and phone number that you used before. Follow the instructions below:
Related read: How to read WhatsApp backup on Google Drive
WhatsApp data is not stored in Gmail. Your WhatsApp backup is stored in Google Drive, from where if you reinstall WhatsApp, your chats will be automatically restored. nine0005
Here is a wonderful tool for your PC called iCareFone Transfer that will seamlessly export data from your mobile phone to your computer. With this program, you can backup data from your phone to PC/Mac selectively with one click.
Install and run it, and then connect your Android phone to your computer via a USB cable. Now click "WhatsApp".
On the left side of the screen, you can see "Backup" in the menu. Also, use the drop-down menu to select your phone and click the "Back Up Now" button to back up your data.
Back up your WhatsApp data on the original device. When the process is complete, click the "Continue" button. nine0005
You will then be asked to confirm the backup of your WhatsApp account by entering your WhatsApp number, click the Verify button.
After you confirm successfully, iCareFone Transfer will automatically backup your WhatsApp data.
After a Preview and Restore backup. Once selected, you will see a list of Android backup files. Select the file and click the "Recover to Android" button.