Ultimate Guide: How to Properly Backup Your WhatsApp on an Android or iPhone

Indeed, WhatsApp contains many precious memories from chats, files, gifs, videos to the stickers you've shared with friends and family over the years.

But if you don't back up your WhatsApp and something happens to your phone out of the blues, these memories get wiped away.

That's why we've taken the time to break down the best ways you can backup, restore and export your WhatsApp chats whenever the need arises – no matter the phone type.

Let’s get right into it.

Part 1: How to Backup Your WhatsApp Data

In this section, we're going to break down the ways you can backup WhatsApp for an iPhone and Android separately since they run on different operating systems.

First, let’s take a look

How to Backup WhatsApp on Your Android via Google Drive.

If you own an Android phone, you can simply backup your WhatsApp data to your Google Drive account. The good part is...you can easily restore it to a new Android phone later on.

To make this process successful, you’ll need:

• An activated Google account on your phone
• Google Play services installed on your phone
• A stable and strong WIFI connection [using mobile data could cause extra charges depending on data size
• Enough free space on your phone for the backup

You can either manually backup your WhatsApp anytime you want or set up your account for automatic backup.

To manually back up your WhatsApp data on an Android, follow these steps:

1. Open WhatsApp on your Android device.
2. Next, tap “More options” [the 3 dots] on the home page and select Settings.
3. From the given options tap Chats > Chat backup.
4. Now, tap ‘BACK UP’.

If you want to create an automatic Google Drive backup for your account, follow these steps:

1. Open WhatsApp.
2. Tap More options > Settings > Chats > Chat backup > Back up to Google Drive.
3. Select the backup frequency you want except ‘’Never’’.
4. Select the Google account you’d want to use for backing up your chat history.
5. Tap “Back up over” to choose the network you want to use for your backups.

Note: If you don't have a Google account connected on your phone, tap “Add account” when prompted and enter your login details.

Pros:

• It’s WhatsApp’s official backup solution for Android users.

Cons:

• If you’re switching to an iPhone, you can’t restore the Google Drive backup to the iPhone
• If your data size exceeds Google Drive’s free 15GB space, you’ll need to pay for more space to proceed

Now, if you’ve got an iPhone, here are 2 methods you can use to back up your WhatsApp data:

1st Method: Back up Your WhatsApp on an iPhone via iCloud

Your iPhone comes with a built-in iCloud Drive feature that gives you room to back up and store your phone data including WhatsApp to your iCloud account.

You can either make a manual backup of your chats or enable automatic backup for your account.

For your backup process to be successful, you’ll need:

• To sign in to your Apple ID for iCloud
• An iOS 10 or newer
• To turn on iCloud Drive
• Enough free space on both your iCloud and iPhone. You need at least 2.05 times the space available in your iCloud account and on your phone than the actual size of your backup
• A stable and strong WIFI connection [using mobile data could cause extra charges depending on data size

Here’s how to make a manual backup of your chats:

1. Launch WhatsApp
2. Tap Settings > Chats button > Chat Backup
3. Tap “Back Up Now” to run a backup

If you don't want to keep reminding yourself to do a backup, here’s how to set up an automatic iCloud Drive backup for your WhatsApp:

1. Follow steps 1-3 above
2. Turn on Auto Backup and choose the frequency you prefer.
3. Turn on “Include Videos” to save your videos as well.

Note: Video files tend to take a lot of your iCloud storage space due to their large size.

Pros:

• It’s WhatsApp’s official backup solution for iPhone users.

Cons:

• If your data size exceeds the free 5 GB space, you’ll need to pay for more space or sacrifice some data
• If you’re switching to an Android, you can’t restore an iCloud backup directly to an Android

Method 2: Back up Your WhatsApp on an iPhone via iTunes

You can also back up your iPhone on your PC or Mac using iTunes.

It’s just that this option doesn’t give you room to only back up your WhatsApp chats, you’ll need to back up everything on your iPhone.

To back up your iPhone using iTunes, follow these steps:

1. Ensure that the version of iTunes you’re running on your computer and iPhone is up to date.
2. Now connect your iPhone to the computer using the device’s lightning cable and open iTunes if it doesn’t open automatically. Click on the “Device icon” from the left-hand side.
3. Click on "Back up Now" in iTunes to begin the backup process. Keep the device connected to the computer until the process is complete. Your WhatsApp messages will be included in the backup and you can restore them to the device if needed.

Pros:

• By backing up WhatsApp to your computer, you get rid of iCloud storage limits.

Cons:

• You can’t specifically backup WhatsApp, you’ll need to back up your entire iPhone which takes up space on your computer.
• If you get a new phone that’s an Android, your iTunes backup can’t be restored to the Android phone.

So, what do you do if you're switching from Android to an iPhone or iPhone to Android?

Backup WhatsApp on Your iPhone or Android with Mobitrix WhatsApp Tool.

Mobitrix WhatsApp Transfer is a safe, reliable third-party tool you can use to backup WhatsApp to your computer for free.

You also get to restore your backup to any phone of choice – whether it’s from an Android to an iPhone or from an iPhone to Android.

This way, you won’t need to lose any precious data.

How to BackUp with Mobitrix:

1. Download and install the app on your computer.
2. Connect your phone to the computer using a USB cord [Android] or lightning cable [iPhone].
3. Click Back up and wait for the transfer process to complete.

Why Use Mobitrix WhatsApp Tool to Back up Your WhatsApp Messages on iPhone and Android?

• Free Back-Up & Fast Restore: Back up your WhatsApp data for free and easily restore the backup to either your current phone or any phone you want.
• 100% Safe & Protected Privacy: Your privacy stays important to us and so, we built Mobitrix to strictly abide by our privacy policy by ensuring all your data is kept on your computer.
• Get Everything Transferred: Transfer, backup, and view all your precious memories in WhatsApp the same as before.
• No Space Limits: Mobitrix's speed is designed to be faster and without space limits, unlike iCloud and Google Drive.

Part 2: How to Restore Your WhatsApp Data.

You probably got a new phone and want to restore your backup without missing a thing. Or maybe something happened to your current phone and you need to recover your backup. Whatever the case, we’ve got you covered.

If you’ve got an Android, here’s how.

Restore Your WhatsApp Backup via Google Drive to an Android.

1. Install WhatsApp [for new phone], uninstall and reinstall [for same phone].
2. Open WhatsApp and verify your phone number.
3. Tap RESTORE to restore your chats and media from Google Drive.
4. After the restoration process is complete, tap NEXT.
5. WhatsApp will start restoring your media files after your chats are restored.

Note: You’ll also need the same phone number and Google account used for the backup.

If you're an iPhone user and you're looking to restore the backup to the same iPhone or a new one, here's how.

Restore Your iCloud WhatsApp Backup to an iPhone.

1. Verify that an iCloud backup exists in WhatsApp by going to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup.
2. If you can see when the last backup was carried out, go ahead to delete and reinstall WhatsApp.
3. Verify your phone number and follow the prompts to restore your chat history.

How to Restore Your WhatsApp Backup When it’s Between Different Phone Systems.

Let's say you've got your WhatsApp backup on Google Drive or iCloud but your new phone isn't using the same operating system as your current phone – that's Android to iPhone or iPhone to Android.

According to WhatsApp, it would be directly impossible to transfer your WhatsApp data between them.

But like we stated earlier, you can easily transfer, backup, and restore WhatsApp data using a safe, reliable, and easy-to-use third-party tool – Mobitrix WhatsApp Tool.

How to Use the Mobitrix WhatsApp Tool to Restore Your WhatsApp Data:

1. If you haven’t backed up your data using Mobitrix to your computer already, follow the steps here.
2. Connect your phone to the computer with a USB or lightning cord.
3. Choose the backup you'd like to restore and wait for the restoration process to be complete.

Part 3: How to Back up Your WhatsApp Chats by Exporting Them.

If you want to export and save your precious WhatsApp memories in their original formats [HTML, CSV, .txt files, etc.] or you no longer use your WhatsApp account, exporting them does the trick.

To export your WhatsApp chats, there are 4 ways we recommend:

1. Email

For this method, you can only export one conversation at a time. All you’ll need to do is to use the 'Export chat' feature to export a copy of the chat history from an individual or group chat. Follow the steps here to use this method.

2. Chrome Plug-in

Chrome has a WhatsApp Chat Backup extension that you can add to your plug-ins and use when needed. If you’d like to use this method, go here to follow the instructions.

3. Mobitrix WhatsApp Tool

As we stated in part 1, Mobitrix WhatsApp Tool can back up your WhatsApp data to your computer so you can view it in different folders according to the data type like photos, videos, and files.

4. CopyTrans Contacts

If you’re looking to save your WhatsApp chats to your computer so you can read and print them out later, CopyTrans Contacts helps out with this.