Proven Methods on How to Backup WhatsApp Messages

Michael Felton
Backupology
Published in
4 min readOct 20, 2022

WhatsApp is one of the most popular chat apps used by millions of people worldwide. The app makes communicating with your friends, family, and coworkers easy by sending private messages or joining group chats.

But what happens when you need to back up WhatsApp messages? Does the application offer any native backup features or tools to preserve your WhatsApp chat history along with photos and attachments?

The short answer is yes. However, the long answer is to explain the proven methods of how to perform a WhatsApp backup. That’s precisely what we will do in this guide. So with all that said, let’s get into the proven methods to back up WhatsApp messages.

Method 1: WhatsApp Backup Method for iPhone

The first method relates to iPhone users. Whenever you back up any data on your iPhone, it goes into your iCloud account. So if you back up WhatsApp data through your iPhone, it will appear there.

Luckily, we don’t need any external tool or software to back up WhatsApp chats on our iPhone devices — we can use the app’s native features. Here is how to do that:

  • Launch WhatsApp and go to “Settings;”
  • Click on “Chats;”
  • Select “Chat Backup;”
  • Press “Back Up Now.” Subsequently, you can select the auto backup option and tell the app exactly when to perform an automatic WhatsApp chat backup. You can also select the option to include videos in the backup.

As you can see, the backup process for WhatsApp chats on iPhone takes only a few steps. As they say, even a monkey can do it. Now, let’s explore how to back up WhatsApp messages on Andriod.

Method 2: WhatsApp Backup Method for Android

The WhatsApp settings appear differently on Android devices and iPhones. So even if the process is similar, the steps to get there are slightly different. We know that iPhone backs up data to iCloud. Android devices backup data on Google Drive. Here are the steps to backup your WhatsApp messages on your Android device:

  • Launch WhatsApp and click on the three vertical dots in the top-right corner;
  • Select “Settings;”
  • Click on “Chats;”
  • Select “Chat backup;”
  • Click on “Back Up.” Similarly to the iPhone, you can select your Google Drive backup options. You can change the backup account, options for backup, and a few additional Google Drive settings. Once you review the necessary changes, press the backup button to initiate the backup process.

These are the two methods to back up WhatsApp data on Android and iPhone. Unfortunately, if you’re looking for a backup method through Windows or macOS, the simple answer is that there is none. But there is a workaround that many users have found to be quite helpful.

Method 3: WhatsApp Data Backup From Android to PC

You can take your Android backups and store them on your PC. First, you must find the backup folder on Google Drive and copy it to your computer or laptop by connecting your phone to a USB charger.

Another method to copy smartphone WhatsApp backups to your PC is to copy the folder from Google Drive directly onto your desktop. Let’s see how to do that.

  • Connect your Android device and PC with a USB cable;
  • Locate the WhatsApp chat backup on your Android smartphone and copy the folder;
  • Put the folder anywhere on your PC. You can also copy the latest backup instead of the whole folder.

We should mention that there is no way for your Windows PC to read the WhatsApp transfer of backed-up messages. The backup file or folder will instead remain stored on your PC in case of an emergency. People perform this method to keep their phones decluttered.

How to Restore A WhatsApp Chat Backup?

With all that said, how do you restore a WhatsApp backup? The steps to restore WhatsApp backup iPhone and Android are identical. Here is what you need to know to restore a WhatsApp backup.

  • Delete and reinstall WhatsApp on your smartphone;
  • Log in to your WhatsApp;
  • The app will notify you’ve used a new device to log in (as it doesn’t recognize your device since you uninstalled the app). It will ask you whether you want to restore your previous messages;
  • Tap the “Restore” button.

Once you do that, the app will look for the WhatsApp backup folder and will back up the latest version.

Conclusion

These are the three proven methods to back up WhatsApp messages on your iPhone and Android device. In addition, we also included a proven method that helps keep your Android phone decluttered and stores your WhatsApp backups locally on your Windows PC.

With that said, we should mention other ways to back up WhatsApp messages. Most notably, users turn to third-party tools for all of their WhatsApp backup needs. But we should mention that a third-party tool isn’t necessary.

Let us know if you know of any other method to back up WhatsApp messages.

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Michael Felton
Backupology

Tech enthusiast, nature lover, father of 3. 10+ years of experience writing for IT blogs.