How to Back Up WhatsApp: Chats, Photos, and Videos on iPhone and Android
CodexFuse Team · 2026-10-28T02:36:22.305Z · 12 min read
WhatsApp holds years of chats, photos, and voice notes — and it only takes one lost phone to lose them all. This guide shows you how to back up WhatsApp on iPhone and Android, turn on automatic backups, lock the backup with encryption, and restore it on a new phone.
Learning how to back up WhatsApp takes about five minutes, and it is the cheapest insurance your phone has. WhatsApp does not keep a copy of your chats on its own servers — your messages, photos, videos, and voice notes live on your phone, and on the cloud backup you set up yourself. If the phone is lost, stolen, or wiped, the only way those chats come back is the backup you made before it happened. This guide walks you through the whole thing in order: what a WhatsApp backup actually saves, the steps on iPhone and Android, the storage limits that catch people out, the encrypted-backup option, and the restore rules that decide whether a new phone gets your history back. If your whole phone is unprotected too, start with our guide to back up your phone — WhatsApp is one app inside that bigger safety net.
How do I back up my WhatsApp chats?
To back up your WhatsApp chats, open WhatsApp, go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup, and tap Back Up (Android) or Back Up Now (iPhone). On Android the backup goes to your Google Account; on iPhone it goes to iCloud. Then turn on automatic backups so it keeps happening without you remembering. The steps below show how to backup WhatsApp chats on both platforms, in order. The two paths, side by side:
- iPhone: WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > Back Up Now.
- Android: WhatsApp > three-dot menu > Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > Back Up.
That one tap is the whole job. Everything below is about making sure the backup actually works when you need it: enough storage, the right account, and the restore rules.
What does a WhatsApp backup include — and what does it leave out?
A WhatsApp backup saves your complete chat history: messages, photos, videos, documents, voice notes, and channels and community updates, depending on your settings. Videos are optional — you can leave them out to keep the backup small. Two things are not in it: your call history and your account settings (iGeeksBlog).
| Saved in the backup | Not saved in the backup |
|---|---|
| Messages — your full chat history | Call history |
| Photos and videos (videos only if you turn on Include Videos) | Account settings |
| Documents and voice notes | Anything sent or received after the last backup |
| Channels and community updates | Chats on linked devices such as WhatsApp Web |
The last row matters more than it looks. WhatsApp will not let you back up or restore chats from a linked device like WhatsApp for Web — the backup belongs to the phone itself (Gadgets360). And the backup is a snapshot, not a live copy: anything that arrives after the last backup is not in it, which is why the automatic daily backup in the next sections is worth turning on.
How to back up WhatsApp on iPhone
On iPhone, WhatsApp backs up to iCloud: open WhatsApp, tap Settings, then Chats > Chat Backup, and tap Back Up Now. The WhatsApp chat backup iPhone owners use is this in-app backup — not the whole-phone iCloud backup, which is a different thing and stores WhatsApp twice. Before you tap anything, check two things: iCloud Drive is turned on in your iPhone settings (Settings > [your name] > iCloud), and you have enough free iCloud space. Apple gives every iCloud account 5 GB free, and a WhatsApp backup shares that space with everything else on the phone (AdamLobo).
- Open WhatsApp and tap Settings (bottom right).
- Tap Chats > Chat Backup.
- Tap Back Up Now to make a backup right away.
- Under Auto Backup, pick Daily, Weekly, or Monthly so it keeps happening on its own.
- Toggle on Include Videos if you want videos backed up too — it makes the backup much bigger.
One rule from iGeeksBlog is worth knowing before you start: you need about 2.05 times the backup size free on both iCloud and the device. A 1 GB backup needs roughly 2.05 GB free, because the phone builds the backup before uploading it. If the backup fails with a storage error, that missing headroom is usually the reason.
You can also back up the whole iPhone to iCloud, which includes WhatsApp — but doing both the device backup and the in-app backup stores WhatsApp twice and eats storage. Pick one method and stick with it (iGeeksBlog).
How to back up WhatsApp on Android
On Android, WhatsApp backs up to your Google Account: open WhatsApp, tap the three-dot menu, then Settings > Chats > Chat Backup, choose your Google account, and tap Back Up. The WhatsApp chat backup Android owners set up is the Google Drive backup — the same screen, the same steps, a different cloud. The backup lands in Google Drive storage, so the account you pick is the account that pays for the space.
- Open WhatsApp and tap the three-dot menu (top right), then Settings.
- Tap Chats > Chat Backup.
- Choose the Google account the backup should go to.
- Under Back up to Google Drive, pick Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
- Toggle on Include Videos if you want videos included.
- Tap Back Up to start the backup now.
The storage warning matters more on Android than it used to. WhatsApp backups now count toward your Google Account's 15 GB of free storage — the change rolled out in late 2024, so a big backup can eat half your free space before you notice (AdamLobo). If the backup fails with a storage error, the fix is usually to free up Google Drive storage or turn off Include Videos and back up again.
Use Wi-Fi for the backup. A backup holding years of photos and videos can run to several gigabytes, and mobile data will charge you for every byte of it. You can also choose whether backups run on Wi-Fi only or on mobile data too — Wi-Fi only is the safe default.
How much space will your WhatsApp backup need?
The honest answer is that it depends on how much media you keep — but you can work it out before you start, using the two limits that decide whether the backup fits. Google gives every account 15 GB free; Apple gives every iCloud account 5 GB free (AdamLobo). Subtract your backup from those limits and you know exactly where you stand:
| Your WhatsApp backup size | Google free space left (15 GB) | iCloud free space left (5 GB) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 14 GB | 4 GB |
| 2 GB | 13 GB | 3 GB |
| 5 GB | 10 GB | 0 GB — full |
| 10 GB | 5 GB | Over the limit |
| 15 GB | 0 GB — full | Over the limit |
The table is simple subtraction from the two free limits — it is a planning aid, not a measurement of your backup. To see your real number, open Settings > Chats > Chat Backup and look at the backup size WhatsApp reports there. Then remember the 2.05× rule from iGeeksBlog: the phone needs about twice the backup size free on the device while the backup is being built, so a 5 GB backup wants roughly 10 GB free on the phone during the run.
The fastest way to shrink a backup is the Include Videos toggle. Videos are the biggest part of most backups by far — one long family video can outweigh thousands of text messages. Turn videos off and the backup drops to a fraction of its size. If you still need the videos, save them to your phone's gallery or a computer first, then back up the chats without them.
How to set up automatic WhatsApp backups
Open Settings > Chats > Chat Backup and choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly under the automatic-backup setting. Daily is the safest choice if your chats change every day — it caps your worst loss at one day of messages. Weekly is fine if WhatsApp is mostly a casual app for you. Monthly is better than nothing, but a month of lost chats is a lot to lose.
After that, the backup runs on its own, as long as the phone is on Wi-Fi and signed in to the same account. Check the Last Backup time under Chat Backup once in a while — a backup that silently stopped months ago is the same as no backup (iGeeksBlog). If the date is old, the usual causes are a full cloud account, a changed Google or iCloud sign-in, or the phone being off Wi-Fi for a long stretch.
How to turn on end-to-end encrypted backup
A normal WhatsApp backup is stored in your Google Account or iCloud without WhatsApp's own encryption on it — Google or Apple could, in theory, read it. The WhatsApp end-to-end encrypted backup option fixes that: it locks the backup with a password or a 64-digit key that only you know, so not even WhatsApp or your cloud provider can open it (Omnichat).
- Open WhatsApp and go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup.
- Tap End-to-end Encrypted Backup, then Turn On.
- Choose a password (at least 6 characters) or a 64-digit encryption key.
- Tap Create. In 2026 you can also use your device passkey — Face ID or fingerprint — to lock the backup (AdamLobo).
The warning is absolute: if you lose the password or the 64-digit key, you cannot restore the backup, and WhatsApp cannot reset it for you. WhatsApp now prompts you to re-enter the password from time to time so you do not forget it — but the reminder cannot save a forgotten key (Omnichat). Store the password or key in a password manager, on paper, or both. Never keep the only copy in the phone you are backing up.
How to restore a WhatsApp backup on a new phone
Restoring works only if two things match: the same phone number and the same cloud account that made the backup. The rules for how to restore WhatsApp backup data are the same on both platforms: reinstall WhatsApp, verify your number, and tap Restore (Android) or Restore Chat History (iPhone) when prompted. Messages sent or received after the last backup will not be restored — the backup is a snapshot, not a live copy (iGeeksBlog).
On iPhone: make sure you are signed in to the same iCloud account, delete and reinstall WhatsApp from the App Store, verify the phone number, then tap Restore Chat History and wait for it to finish.
On Android: sign in to the same Google account, reinstall WhatsApp from Google Play, verify the phone number, then tap Restore when prompted to recover chats from Google Drive. For an encrypted backup, you will need the password or key first (iGeeksBlog).
If WhatsApp says "No backup found", the usual causes are a different phone number, a different Google or iCloud account, or iCloud not enabled for WhatsApp on the iPhone. Fix the account first — no backup exists under the wrong one (iGeeksBlog).
How to transfer WhatsApp chats to a new phone without the cloud
If you do not want to use the cloud at all, WhatsApp's Transfer Chats moves your history straight from the old phone to the new one over local Wi-Fi — it is the built-in way to transfer WhatsApp chats to new phone without a cloud backup in between. Go to Settings > Chats > Transfer Chats on the old phone and scan the QR code on the new one. Both phones must be near each other and on the same Wi-Fi (AdamLobo).
Moving between iPhone and Android is stricter. From iPhone to Android, the new phone must be a Samsung, Pixel, or Android 12+ device that is new or factory reset, connected by cable, and using the same number. From Android to iPhone, use Apple's Move to iOS app — the iPhone must be new or factory reset, on iOS 15.5 or later, with both phones on the same Wi-Fi and plugged into power (Omnichat). Call history, display names, and status updates do not move across platforms. Our full guide to transfer data from Android to iPhone covers the whole-phone move this fits inside.
What to do when your WhatsApp backup fails
Most backup failures come down to storage, the wrong account, or a bad connection. Work through the table before you try anything drastic — the fix is usually one of these four:
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| Backup stuck or fails | Check Wi-Fi, restart the phone, sign out and back in to iCloud or your Google Account. |
| "No backup found" when restoring | Make sure the phone number and the iCloud or Google account match the backup. On iPhone, check that iCloud is enabled for WhatsApp. |
| Not enough storage | Turn off Include Videos and back up again, or free up iCloud storage on iPhone. On Android, delete old files or upgrade storage. |
| Encrypted backup will not restore | Check the password or 64-digit key. If it is lost, the backup cannot be recovered — make a new backup instead. |
| Restore is very slow | Use faster Wi-Fi. Large backups with years of media take a long time, and that is normal. |
If you are clearing space because WhatsApp itself is eating the phone, back up first and delete second. Deleting the app to free space before a backup is made wipes the chats you were trying to save.
Exporting a chat is not a backup
WhatsApp lets you export a single chat as a zip file — text only, or text with media — and email it or save it to Files. That file is readable, and it is a fine way to archive one important conversation. But it is not a backup: you cannot restore an exported chat into WhatsApp (iGeeksBlog). Do not rely on exports for the chats you would miss.
Exports are useful for one job: keeping a readable copy of a single chat — a business agreement, a family thread, a set of instructions — somewhere outside the phone. For everything else, the cloud backup above is the tool. And if you deleted photos and need them back, read our guide to recover deleted photos on iPhone and Android — but know that recovery has a clock on it, while a backup does not.
Sources
- Omnichat Blog — WhatsApp Backup & Restore Guide (iPhone & Android, Business) — backup steps for iPhone and Android, end-to-end encrypted backup with password or 64-digit key, cross-platform transfer requirements, password reminder feature. Checked October 28, 2026.
- iGeeksBlog — How to Back Up WhatsApp Messages on iPhone and Android — updated May 11, 2026 — the 2.05× free-space rule, backup contents (call history and account settings excluded), export-chat steps, restore steps, troubleshooting table. Checked October 28, 2026.
- AdamLobo — How to Back Up WhatsApp (2026 Guide): Android & iPhone — updated April 20, 2026 — Android backups counting toward the 15 GB Google limit, the 5 GB iCloud limit, Transfer Chats via QR code, passkey-encrypted backups. Checked October 28, 2026.
- Gadgets360 — How to Restore WhatsApp Chats on Android and iPhone — restore steps for both platforms, automatic backup setup, the rule that chats cannot be backed up or restored from linked devices. Checked October 28, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does WhatsApp back up automatically?
Not unless you turn it on. Go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup and choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly under the automatic-backup setting. Daily is the safest choice — it caps your worst loss at one day of messages.
Where is my WhatsApp backup stored?
On Android it is stored in your Google Account, counting toward your 15 GB of free Google storage. On iPhone it is stored in iCloud, counting toward your 5 GB of free iCloud storage. WhatsApp does not keep a copy of your chats on its own servers.
How do I restore my WhatsApp backup on a new phone?
Use the same phone number and the same Google or iCloud account that made the backup, reinstall WhatsApp, verify your number, and tap Restore (Android) or Restore Chat History (iPhone) when prompted. Messages sent after the last backup will not come back.
What happens if I forget my encrypted backup password?
You cannot restore the backup. WhatsApp cannot reset the password or the 64-digit encryption key, and neither can Google or Apple. Store the password or key in a password manager or on paper before you need it.
Does a WhatsApp backup include videos?
Only if you turn on Include Videos in the Chat Backup settings. Videos make the backup much bigger, so leaving them out is the fastest way to fit inside the free 15 GB Google or 5 GB iCloud limits.