You should always back up your phone, and that’s especially true if you’re a big WhatsApp user. Since WhatsApp isn’t a cloud-messaging service, everything you do is saved locally on your device. As a result, any catastrophe that hits your device will also nuke your entire conversation history.
The solution? You should also set up regular backups for your WhatsApp conversations. You can back up to iCloud (iOS) or Google Drive (Android), and if you’re on the latter, WhatsApp shouldn’t even count toward your precious Google storage quota. Setting this up on either platform takes less than five minutes:
Backing up WhatsApp chats on iOS
Launch WhatsApp and tap on Settings in the lower-right corner. Tap on Chats, and then tap on Chat Backup. Tap on the “Back Up Now” link to do just that. But, really, you should instead tap on Auto Backup to set up daily, weekly, or monthly uploads of your WhatsApp conversations to iCloud. (Make sure to toggle “Include Videos,” too, unless you’re super-concerned about space.)
Backing up WhatsApp chats on Android
Launch WhatsApp and tap the triple-dot icon in the upper-right corner. Tap on Settings, tap on Chats, and tap on Chat backup. Before you tap the very obvious “Back Up” button to fire a one-off backup to your Google cloud storage, make sure you tap on the smaller “Back up to Google Drive” option below, and change it from “Never” to “Only when I tap ‘Back up,’” at minimum. (This is also where you’ll set up recurring backups, which is an option you should absolutely use instead.)
Make sure you select to the option to include videos, too, if you also want to send those on up to the cloud. Once you’re done with your settings, you can now fire off your initial backup to Google by tapping that turquoise “Back Up” button.
How to restore your WhatsApp Chat History
This one’s easy. Should you find yourself in the position of having to reinstall WhatsApp, you’ll be prompted to restore your saved chat history before you ever make it into the app. You can’t miss it:
Emily Price originally posted this article in August 2018. David Murphy rewrote it in 2020 to clarify settings for both platforms and add screenshots.