Join 91mobiles WhatsApp Channel
WhatsApp chat backup comes in handy when you are setting up the account on a new device or on the same device where it was logged in previously. The feature stores all the data, including WhatsApp messages, photos, videos, and more on the cloud. This ensures that you don't lose access to your chats even if the app gets deleted from your mobile phone. If you want to backup WhatsApp chat but don't know how, fret not, we have got you covered. Below is an easy step-by-step guide on how to backup/ restore WhatsApp chat on Android mobile phones and iPhones.
WhatsApp chat backup is a way of storing your WhatsApp data such as messages, photos and videos in a personal online vault known as cloud storage. Provided you have a stable internet connection, all your data stored in the cloud storage can be restored at any given point in time. All in all, the main purchase of backing up WhatsApp chats is to protect your data in case the device you're using breaks down, gets lost or is stolen. In that case, all the precious data can be retrieved in a few simple steps if it's backed up to the cloud i.e. Google Drive and iCloud in the case of Android and iOS respectively.
WhatsApp offers a chat backup option while setting up the account. However, in case you missed that, you can enable it from the messaging platform Settings menu as well. Here are all the details:
To backup your WhatsApp chats on Android, make sure you're signed into your primary Google account on your device. This is because WhatsApp relies on Google Drive to store your data in the cloud. Furthermore, the data backed up doesn't count towards the basic G Drive storage you get with a Google account i.e. 15GB. With that out of the way, here's how to backup WhatsApp chat from an Android mobile phone.
In case you've bought a new Android phone or factory reset your current phone, getting back all your chats is straightforward and as simple as installing WhatsApp. Just make sure you've properly signed to your Google account in which the WhatsApp backup is stored. That said, here's how you can restore your WhatsApp chats from Google Drive.
This same process can be followed if you feel WhatsApp is not behaving properly on your device and is giving issues that ultimately require a reinstall of the app.
Just like Android, backing up WhatsApp chats on iPhone is similar, just the difference is all your data gets stored on iCloud instead of Google Drive. But prior to following the below-mentioned steps, make sure you've given access to WhatsApp to backup data through iCloud. This setting can be found in your Apple ID under iCloud.
To restore WhatsApp chats, simply install WhatsApp on your new iPhone or reinstall it in case you've factory reset your current iPhone. Here's how to do it.
At the moment, the only brands that allow WhatsApp chat backups from an iPhone to Android are Samsung and Google (that too on Android 12). Meaning if you're thinking of switching to a non-Samsung or non-Pixel device you're out of luck to carry forward your data to the new Android device.
Also read: WhatsApp: How to transfer WhatsApp chat history data from iPhone to Android mobile phone
That said, a more refined solution to transfer your chats between both the operating systems is in the pipeline and will soon be rolled out in the coming months, as per WhatsApp.
It is impossible to backup WhatsApp chats to Google Drive on an iPhone despite having the Google Drive app installed. This is simply because Apple only relies on its own cloud-based storage solution called iCloud and prevents even third parties such as WhatsApp from using non-Apple cloud storage. iPhone users have no option but to use iCloud which only comes with a 5GB of storage option by default.