Millions of users around the world share text messages, images, videos and more through WhatsApp every day. The instant messaging platform has changed the way in which we communicate and it has become a leading solution thanks to its convenience and the fact that it is free to use. It supports multiple platforms and allows you to stay in touch with anyone who has the application installed on their device. You only need an internet connection to enjoy all the features that WhatsApp supports including group messaging, voice and video messaging, calls and of course, texts messaging.
It is likely that a high percentage of your conversations are through WhatsApp and there may be some information that you won’t want to lose. There is always a risk of accidental deletion, loss, theft or system failure and as a result of these common issues, you may end up losing your chat history. To help you protect your WhatsApp data, we will go through some practical ways in which you can back it up. These steps to back up your WhatsApp chat history are particularly useful for Android, but they would work on other platforms as well.
How to enable automatic backup
WhatsApp is designed to help you to back up your data and while by default, your messages are backed up each day at the same time, you can customize the time to suit your needs. It is also possible to choose if you want to use data or WiFi to complete the backup and you can also perform backups immediately, if preferred. If you delete eh messages by mistake or lose your device, you just need to reinstall WhatsApp and your backed up messages will be located and retrieved from a device’s SD card and recovered while the app is being reinstalled. You will see a message offering the chance to get you back to the latest backup. Once you click on restore, you will get your messages back.
How to backup and restore messages manually
It is possible to recover older messages by performing a manual restore. Just keep in mind that when you restore messages manually, the more recent messages will be overwritten and it won’t be possible to get them back. WhatsApp states that the best way to protect up-to-date messages is through a manual backup. Just go to “chat settings” and check the “backup conversations” section. You will see the last backup and if you tap there, a backup of the latest conversations will be enabled.
The next thing is to use a file manager program to go to the WhatsApp/Databases folder. You can locate the latest backup file (under the name mgstore.db.crypt on Android and give the file a new name, in order to be able to find it easier. Then, rename it as msgstore.db.crypt again and uninstall WhatsAp. Reinstall the app and then tap the restore option to perform a normal restoring process.
How to back up WhatsApp when switching phones
In general, it is only possible to back up your WhatsApp conversation history from one phone to a new one, when the two devices use the same operating system. You can easily transfer data from one Android phone to another, or from iPhone to iPhone. However, when it comes to moving from an iPhone to an Android or vice-versa, things can get a bit more complicated. You can get data back on a new Android device by just making sure that the mgstore.db.crypt (or its equivalent) is inside the new device’s SD card. Then you need to same the same backup process that we previously described.
If the phone you are trying to move data to, only has internal storage (like in the case of an iPhone), you need to transfer the folder that has the backup file onto a new phone. You can simply connect the phone to your computer using a USB cable and then drag and drop the folder. Once you make sure that the right backup file is in the internal storage, all you need to do is to install WhatsApp. It will find the backup automatically. Alternatively, you can use apps like WhatsAppXtract and iPhone Backup Extractor to extract and access WhatsApp chats on a computer. These solutions allow you to transfer and read backed up messages.
How to restore WhatsApp on different mobile operating systems
Although officially, it is not possible to restore chat history from Android to a different platform or the other way around, in reality, there is something that can be done to address this. WhatsApp Migrator is a solution that lets you change from an iPhone to an Android phone. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work when it comes to changing from an Android to an iPhone. This tool needs an iPhone backup tool to set up an unecrypted backup. After the backup is created, the Migrator is used to combine that file with the chat log on an Android phone. Then you need to uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp and continue the usual restore process as before.
Backing up your WhatsApp Messages will allow you to keep important information shared in the chats, or to simply remember funny conversations. It should also be noted that WhatsApp messages are encrypted in the cloud to add a layer of protection.
