How to create a WhatsApp backup with Google Drive

As a WhatsApp user on an Android device, you can easily create a WhatsApp backup using Google Drive. This way, you can back up your WhatsApp data and contacts in case you lose your smart­phone, swap phones, or in the event of a malware attack. Our guide explains how to use the function.

How to create a Google Drive WhatsApp backup quick guide

1. Open WhatsApp on your Android device.
2. Tap the three dots (menu) in the upper right corner and select ‘Settings’.
3. In Settings, tap on ‘Chats’ and then ‘Chat backup’.
4. Select your Google account for the backup, set the desired backup frequency, and tap ‘Back Up’ to start the process.

Why is a WhatsApp backup useful?

WhatsApp contains not only personal data, but many important contacts. Sudden loss of data can be annoying. Restoring it, if at all possible, is very time-consuming if chat histories, contacts and stored media were not backed up. You can prevent this with a WhatsApp backup via Google Drive. This way, you can easily restore your data when re­in­stalling WhatsApp.

A WhatsApp backup ensures that in the event of sudden smart­phone loss, hardware failure, a malware attack, or swapping to a new device, important WhatsApp data is not only backed up in the app or on the smart­phone, but also in the Google cloud.

WhatsApp backups do not eat into Google storage ca­pa­cit­ies

Anyone familiar with Google Drive might think: Doesn’t this take up cloud storage? The answer is: No. WhatsApp backups do not count against your Drive storage quota and do not take up space, even if you sync other data with Google Drive.

Re­quire­ments for backing up WhatsApp to Google Drive

The following re­quire­ments must be met for a WhatsApp backup to Google Drive:

• You must be using Android.
• You need to have an active Google account on your smart­phone.
• Google Play services must be enabled on your smart­phone.
• Your smart­phone should have suf­fi­cient storage space available.
• You need a stable internet con­nec­tion

How to create a WhatsApp backup with Google Drive

Here’s how to create a WhatsApp backup with Google Drive in just a few steps.

Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your smart­phone and navigate to the three dots in the top right corner for ‘Options’.

Step 2: Tap ‘Settings’ in ‘Options’.

Step 3: Tap ‘Chats’ in your account settings.

Step 4: In ‘Chats’ go to ‘Chat backup’ at the bottom of the page.

Step 5: In the ‘Google Drive Settings’ section, go to ‘Back up to Google Drive’ to set up your backup.

Step 6: Under ‘Google Account’, also select the Gmail address you want to use for the WhatsApp backup in Google Drive.

Step 7: In the menu window, select the intervals at which you want to create a backup on Google Drive, or specify if you want to set up the backup manually each time (under ‘Only when I tap “Back up”’).

Step 8: Under ‘Back up over’, choose whether you want to save the backup to the cloud using Wi-Fi or a mobile data con­nec­tion.

Step 9: Tap ‘Back up’ to create your backup. Depending on the interval you selected, WhatsApp will save backups daily, weekly, or monthly — or only when you manually tap ‘Back up’.

How to restore data using a WhatsApp backup

Restoring your data with a WhatsApp backup is straight­for­ward.

1. Uninstall WhatsApp and reinstall the app.
2. Open the app and confirm your phone number.
3. When prompted to restore your backup, tap ‘Restore’.

How to find and manage your WhatsApp backup in Google Drive

WhatsApp backups can only be restored and accessed through WhatsApp. This means the backup cannot be used outside of the app and is intended solely for data recovery. Keep in mind that backups are only retained if you continue to use your device. After 57 days of in­activ­ity, backups are auto­mat­ic­ally deleted. In Google Drive, backups that haven’t been updated for one year will also be removed.

Here’s how to locate your backup in Google Drive:

1. Open the Google Drive app or sign in at drive.google.com.
2. Tap the three ho­ri­zont­al lines in the top left corner.
3. Go to ‘Backups.’ There you’ll find your most recent WhatsApp backups.