If you use WhatsApp – and you likely are – you should have activated automatic backups in the application for a long time. You never know when you will need to restore all your conversations and messages, either because you change your mobile or because of some other unforeseen event that temporarily prevents you from accessing the application data.
When you find yourself in such a situation, one of the processes that you will have to carry out is to restore WhatsApp messages and conversations. In this guide, we explain how to do it step by step and in a simple way.
Restore your WhatsApp chats and messages step by step
The process to restore WhatsApp messages and conversations is very similar to the method we saw to recover deleted messages from the application. In both cases, it is necessary to have a backup, either the one stored in Google Drive or those older than WhatsApp stores in the internal memory of the device.
That said, there are two ways to restore WhatsApp messages :
Restore messages from a copy of Google Drive
Since August 2018, WhatsApp backups stored in Google Drive no longer take up storage space on our Google cloud drive. In addition, since this backup is carried out automatically – as long as the option is enabled – it will be possible to restore the most recent edition of messages and conversations.
To do this, simply access the WhatsApp application for the first time on the new device. After verifying the phone number, the app itself will suggest restoring the copy of messages. Just click on the green “Restore” button for the process to begin.
Restore older messages
If, on the other hand, you want to restore messages older than those stored in the Google Drive backup, the process is somewhat more complex. In this case, you will need to install a file explorer for Android on the old mobile and follow these steps:
- Open the file manager and go to the WhatsApp / Databases path.
- Change the backup file you want to restore from “msgstore-Year-Month-Day.1.db.crypt12 to” msgstore.db.crypt12 “(the final number may be different, whatever it is, do not modify it ).
- Copy this file in the same path but in the new mobile where you want to restore the messages.
- Make the initial configuration of WhatsApp on the new mobile, restoring the backup you just copied.
In this way, all messages and conversations will be available in the application’s inbox, and no data should have been lost along the way. Do you understand now why it is important to have a backup?
Sharlene Meriel is an avid gamer with a knack for technology. He has been writing about the latest technologies for the past 5 years. His contribution in technology journalism has been noteworthy. He is also a day trader with interest in the Forex market.
