Millions of Android phone users use WhatsApp as their preferred method of staying in touch with family and friends. It is common for us to send and receive many messages in the app, and we often use it as a means of communication. Therefore, it is essential save WhatsApp backups on our mobile devices, as they can help us recover everything we have lost.
If we have had problems with the app or have changed phones, we can restore our WhatsApp backups on Android. This means that the chats and files that we have received in it will be restored when we do. We can continue using the app as before without losing anything.
Backups in WhatsApp
As you already know, the application automatically back up of our conversations from time to time. This helps preserve the messages, photos, videos, and audio notes that have been exchanged in these conversations, as well as everything else (messages). These backups are also saved to Google Drive, so they are always accessible to us. These backups have been accumulating in Google's cloud lately, so we're going to have to modify our app to accommodate this change, but users shouldn't have any problems.
In addition to being automated, these backups can also be created manually in WhatsApp. In addition to this, we have several options to configure these backups in the application settings. Specifically, we can choose when we want this backup to be created, if videos should be included in it or where these backups should be saved. This backup can be configured by each user in the messaging app as they prefer.
Each backup generated from the app will be saved in Google Drive. This allows you to restore the most recent backup stored in the cloud whenever there is a need to restore WhatsApp on Android. It is best to save a backup every week, but this depends on how you use the app on Android. Check these settings and choose the one that suits you best.
Restore WhatsApp backup
There are several steps to restore WhatsApp backups on an Android phone. We have several methods available, but this is the simplest and fastest. This method is accessible to anyone using the app on their Android device. We are going to go over the steps to restore our backup in the following text.
Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp
For restore WhatsApp backups on Android, we must use the app's setup wizard. To do this we will have to delete or uninstall the app from our Android mobile. In order to do this on mobile, this process will require that we first remove or uninstall WhatsApp. Uninstalling the app is not as difficult as it seems, this process will help us to restore the backup of the app on the device. After uninstalling the mobile app, you have to reinstall it.
You must press and hold the application when you find WhatsApp on your mobile and then click Uninstall. There are several ways to uninstall the app, including downloading it from the Play Store. To reinstall it, you have to do it from the Play Store. We open the Play Store on our phone and search for WhatsApp. The uninstall button appears in the app profile because we have it installed on our mobile. When we press the uninstall button, we proceed to uninstall the app. When the app has been uninstalled, the Install button appears on the Play Store profile. When the app is installed, the button is pressed to start the installation of the messaging app.
When reinstalling WhatsApp on Android, the application starts from scratch. Because there will be no registration of us in the app, WhatsApp starts from scratch. That is why we must perform this step to restore our WhatsApp backup, which is the easiest method available to us.
Set up your phone number
When we have reinstalled WhatsApp on our mobile, let's start by configuring the app. This procedure is identical to the one we perform when installing the app for the first time. We will see that a series of windows appear, each of which will ask us to access certain permissions. In the last window we will have to enter our phone number.
The WhatsApp backup must be restored to the mobile using the same phone number that was associated with the backup. Otherwise it will not be restored. In this situation, we enter the phone number that was previously associated with our backup. The WhatsApp app will ask us to confirm it by calling or sending an SMS with a code. Normally, the app will do it automatically, so we won't have to do anything. However, if this doesn't work, we can enter the code manually.
Restore the backup
We finally reached the point where we can use the WhatsApp backup that we have found in Google Drive. If everything has gone well, we will arrive at the screen that shows that it is available on google drive and that we are allowed to use it. In addition to that, we will be given some additional details (when was it created, what weight does it have…). This allows us to confirm if it is correct.
When you see the screen shown above, click the Restore button. This is the only time that we are going to have to restore our WhatsApp backup to Google Drive. So we must. Clicking the Restore button starts the restore process. This process will take several minutes, although the duration will depend on the size of the backup that was saved to Google Drive. Once complete, you will be able to access and use your normal WhatsApp app once again.
