How to Backup WhatsApp and Restore Conversations

The backup on WhatsApp is the only resource that exists to restore WhatsApp chats made in the past with various contacts at any time, regardless of whether you are installing the application on a new phone or on the same.

A security copy, as the “backup” is called in Italian, is a file where all WhatsApp conversations are saved, and which allows you to retrieve all chats both from the mobile phone in which the copy was made, and from any other device .

So, if you don’t want to miss a single conversation – with related photos and videos – the only truly effective solution is WhatsApp backup, 100% guaranteed.

Although these copies are normally stored in the mobile phone itself, today technology has made great strides and conversations can be saved directly to the cloud , a virtual memory that allows you to restore chats at any time and from any device, because the data is saved on the Internet.

On iPhones , with Apple’s iOS operating system, these copies are stored on iCloud, while on Android the copies are stored on Google Drive.

In this guide, we will show you how to backup messages to your phone and Google Drive , restore messages, protect your old messages from deletion, and offer you alternatives to Google Drive for a safer experience.

How to Backup WhatsApp

On smartphones and tablets with Android operating system , the procedure for creating a WhatsApp backup is the same for all models. An exception is the fact that you want to save the copy locally (that is, without using the cloud), because in this case you need a mobile phone with a microSD card.

If you decide to save messages using this procedure, the copy of your WhatsApp conversations will be stored on the external memory card . Then, when you want to recover the conversations, all you have to do is insert the same memory card into the new mobile phone and then restore the chats.

How to make a standard WhatsApp backup on Android:

Open the WhatsApp application.
Click on the three dots icon you see at the top right of the screen.
Click on the “Settings” option.
Enter the section “Chat and calls”.
From the options you see in this section, click on “backup”.
Now click on “Save” and instantly WhatsApp will create the backup copy of your chats saving all the conversations you have done so far. In this case, remember that you are saving all data on the external microSD memory card.

In this section of WhatsApp, in addition to the possibility to see the conversations, you can find the date of the last backup you made on your phone. “Local” refers to the last backup stored on the microSd, while “Google Drive” refers to the last copy saved on the cloud.

But if what you are looking for is a safe and always working backup , it is better to save the WhatsApp conversations on Google Drive . That way, even if you lose your phone or break your card, you can restore everything without any problems. Furthermore, as mentioned before, it will be easier to restore chats on a new phone, without annoying movement of memory cards.

The only requirement to restore a copy of Google Drive happens to be using the same phone number that was used to create the copy.

How to backup WhatsApp conversations on Android with Google Drive:

Open WhatsApp.
Click on the three dots icon at the top right of the screen.
Click on “Settings”.
Enter the “Chat & Calls” section and click on the “Backup” option.
Now, if this is your first time using this option, click on “Account”. The application will ask you to select a Google account associated with your mobile phone that you will need to create the backup and possibly restore it. If you don’t have an associated Google account, click on “Add account”. (N. B. Google account is the same as Gmail. If you don’t have one, to back up with Drive you need to create it first. )
Once we have selected the account, click on the “Save to Google Drive” option and select how often copies of your conversations will be automatically saved to the cloud.
Finally, in case you want to backup also including the sent or received videos, activate the “Include videos” option.
Now, click on the “Save” button and your conversations will be instantly saved.

How to backup WhatsApp on iPhone:

This is simpler, because the phone stores all backups in iCloud by default.

Open the WhatsApp app.
Click on the “Settings” tab located at the bottom right of the screen.
Click on “Chat”.
Once inside, click on the “Chat Backup” option.

Here you can do three things: click on “ Back up now ” to make the backup instantly, set the automatic backup (choosing between daily, weekly and monthly) and decide whether to save the videos as well.

How to restore conversations

After making the backup, restoring is really simple. If you’ve never done it before, there are other ways to recover deleted messages, with a different procedure that only works on Android.

Usually you want to restore when you switch phones , but you want to keep messages, photos and videos from the old one.

In this case, what you need to do is restore the WhatsApp backup on Android, a procedure whose only requirement is to use the same phone number with which you made the backup.

To start with recovering conversations on Android from backup , you must first install the WhatsApp application in the Android version. If you have not already done so, you can download the official application from this link .

Once the application is launched, the procedure for downloading the WhatsApp backup to Google Drive is as follows:
The application will ask you to enter a phone number. Enter it and follow the instructions.
Going forward you will see the option to restore the backup. On the screen, under the title “Backup Restor”, you should see the “backup found message”, accompanied by all the details of the copy (date, size, associated Google account, etc.).
Click on the “Restore” option. If you decide to ignore the copy, you will see a message warning you that you will not be able to restore at a later time .

In case the procedure is successful, you will be shown the message “X messages restored”, and by clicking on the “Next” option you can finish the WhatsApp installation without losing a single message.

To restore the conversations with the backup on the iPhone , however, just reinstall WhatsApp (available on the App Store ). The application starts automatically when you install it on your mobile. After entering the phone number, the application will automatically give you the option to download the latest backup.

When you install WhatsApp on iPhone, after entering the phone number, just click on iCloud backup recovery and you will see a screen with all the information regarding your last backup (date, number of messages, number of photos, etc.) ), and from there you can proceed with the final recovery.

Restore WhatsApp chats from the last 7 days

WhatsApp also automatically saves the last seven days of backup on your phone. If you are using an SD card, you can find them in a folder called “WhatsApp / database”. If not, you will find them in a folder with the same name in the internal memory.

WhatsApp backups use the following file names: msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12. So for the reset proceed as follows:

Identify the desired backup for the date, then change the file name to “msgstore.db.crypt12” by deleting the date information from the center. This lets WhatsApp know that you want to restore that file.

The .crypt12 extension is the newest in a long line of file types used by WhatsApp. If you haven’t used the app for a while, you may still be using an older version. In this case, the file might be named .crypt11 or .crypt10. Don’t change it to .crypt12. Leave it as you find it or WhatsApp won’t be able to read it.

Once you have found and renamed the file, uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp and click on the “restore” button when it appears.

Why do I need to use a different backup service

The problem with saving messages to the desktop is that they can be “stolen” by anyone with access (direct or not) to your computer, or they can disappear if your computer breaks.

You could use Google Drive to get around this, but in this case, you’re showing Google all of your data. You may also lose access to your messages if you change your operating system, since you can’t access your Google Drive files as easily on non-Android phones.

If you want to keep your data safe without the risk of someone seeing it or getting lost, we have a couple of suggestions. We have chosen two of the best online backup program providers that will make your work with WhatsApp easier.

Acronis True Image

The first option we present to you for backing up WhatsApp files is Acronis True Image . It has excellent apps for Android and iOS, which make it easy to back up files directly from your phone . It also includes a cloning tool useful for migrating files to a new smartphone and therefore when you switch phones.

Two notable features are Acronis Notary, which uses blockchain technology to ensure backups are readable, and Active Protection, which scans files for signs of ransomware (i.e. those types of malware that restrict device access infected, requiring a ransom to be paid to remove the restriction).

You can try Acronis with a 30-day free trial. Plans start at € 49.99 for one device.

✓ Strengths:

Exceptionally fast backup
Easy to use
Efficient assistance
Global network of servers
Desktop and mobile backup
End-to-end encryption
Disk image and cloning
Hybrid backup
File storage
File synchronization
Ransomware scan
Blockchain technology

X Weaknesses:

No two-factor authentication
No Linux support

Iperius Backup

Iperius Backup is a complete backup and recovery solution for computers, servers and Windows systems. The software is developed by Enter Srl, an Italian company founded in 1997 that deals with management consulting, technological services and software development. Iperius Backup consists of different backup products for various Windows platforms, computers, servers and other devices and hardware, and of course WhatsApp. It offers numerous solutions and features for personal, business and commercial users.

The wide range of backup solutions offers the software unprecedented scalability to meet the different and specific needs of users, making it a powerful platform that unifies all backup activities. Its capabilities are based on high levels of execution agility and ease of configuration , allowing you to perform different types of backups to various devices, external drives, networked computers, FTP servers and even the cloud.

You can see all the solutions here: Iperius Backup official website

Final remarks

There are many quick and easy ways to backup and restore WhatsApp data, but that doesn’t mean they’re equally safe. If you don’t want Facebook or Google to have unwarranted access to your private messages, it’s worth investing in a cloud backup system that will keep your data secure.

It might cost you a little more than you’d like, but the peace of mind you get from knowing your information is safe is an advantage that is unmatched. Even more so if you do business transactions or send business messages via WhatsApp.

If you have any questions about backing up or restoring WhatsApp messages, leave a comment below. We will reply and update the article.