We’ve all been using WhatsApp for many years now.
Some of us have chats which are 5-10 years old which we would like to save forever.
In order to save chats we must do a backup.
Before attempting backup please Clean Up WhatsApp Chats. Learn how to do that here.
How Do I Backup WhatsApp?
Go to WhatsApp Settings -> Chats -> Chat Backup
First you will see the date of the Last Backup. Ideally, it should show a date close to today’s date.
If it shows “Never”, that means WhatsApp has not been backed up.
At the bottom of the screen you will see the following options:
Auto Backup
Auto Backup should be set to Daily. The backup takes place automatically as long as your phone is connected to Wi-Fi and the charger.
Include Videos
Include videos will add all the videos in all WhatsApp chats to the backup. This can be really large depending on how many videos you have. Enabling this option will show you the size of your videos at the top of the screen before backing up.
To start the backup click “Backup Now”.
Be Patient. It could take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours depending on the size of the backup and the internet speed.
Things to Remember
- First Clean Up WhatsApp. You can learn how to do that by clicking here.
- Check how much free space you have. This can be found under Settings -> General -> About. You should ideally have double to triple the free space required for the backup.
- Be connected to Wi-Fi and connect your phone to the charger.
- If your backup exceeds 5GB you will have to purchase iCloud Storage.
- For Android users, Google Drive offers 15GB of free space. If your backup is larger, you may have to upgrade your plan.