According to research, with almost two billion active users per month, WhatsApp is the third most popular application used all over the world. A huge number of the population is connected to this application because of its simple, reliable, and secure messaging service.
WhatsApp is not only limited to messaging services but also comes with various features like file sharing where you can send audio and video and call anyone for free. But if it ever happens that the messages are deleted by mistake, then you will not get them back.
So it is very crucial to keep a backup of your conversation. Data can be deleted for a variety of reasons, it could be for changing smartphones, or for a phone factory reset, or for any other reason no matter which device you are using. So you must keep a backup file of data for all devices.
If you want to backup WhatsApp messages, you first need to know where the WhatsApp data is stored on your smartphone. In this article, you will find out all the WhatsApp messages you have sent and received and how to recover them.
Where is the WhatsApp chat history stored?
WhatsApp does not store your personal chat history on their servers. According to WhatsApp’s privacy and policy, WhatsApp does not store your personal information such as your location, current or permanent address, etc.
It only stores the username and number of the person you want to contact. Other information you provide to WhatsApp is not synced to the WhatsApp server, only stored locally in your application.
WhatsApp temporarily saves your chat until your messages are delivered properly. And as soon as the delivery of the messages is complete, WhatsApp deletes the temporarily saved message from their server.
If you want to recover messages that are a few weeks old, you have no choice but to uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp. Because only then will WhatsApp give you the option of data recovery from your email.
WhatsApp message saving method is different for Android and iOS. Let’s take a look at where WhatsApp stores chat history on iOS and Android.
Where is the WhatsApp chat history stored on the iPhone?
iPhone users use iCloud or iTunes to backup WhatsApp data and restore data. As I said earlier, WhatsApp temporarily saves data and deletes the data again after the message has been delivered, so the messages can only be backed up by the user to their iCloud server.
And WhatsApp has introduced end-to-end encryption methods to protect its user data. Ensure your iCloud Drive is turned on for WhatsApp backups on your iPhone.
- Firstly, open the Settings option on your iPhone, and tap on your Apple ID.
- Next, Tap to iCloud and scroll down to the bottom of the screen.
- Then, turn on the slider for WhatsApp for turning on iCloud access.
- Now, your iCloud is turned on and ready for WhatsApp backups.
Now let’s check out how to back up the WhatsApp messages to iCloud.
- First of all, open the WhatsApp application from your phone and tap on Settings.
- Then, tap to the Chats and then Chat Backup.
- Then, tap Back Up Now for uploading all data from Whatsapp to your Apple iCloud.
- Finally, tap the Auto Backup option and choose how frequently you want to prefer backup.
Now your duty is complete, WhatsApp will automatically backup all your WhatsApp messages into the Apple iCloud server.
Where is the WhatsApp chat history stored on Android?
On Android phones, WhatsApp messages are usually backed up to the phone’s internal storage or Google Drive. Select the internal storage with the help of the default File Manager of your phone and you will find a folder called WhatsApp inside which there is a database folder where all the messages are saved.
WhatsApp automatically encrypts the backup files of the messages in the internal storage, so you can’t read those files even if you want to.
If you depend on Google Drive to back up the WhatsApp messages, you need to activate your Google account on your device, and you should have Google Play Services installed and keep a strong internet connection.
- First of all, open the WhatsApp application on your phone.
- Then, find three dots from the top of your phone screen and tap on them and then go to Settings, select Chats, and then select Chat back up.
- Then tap on Back Up to Google Drive. Now select how frequently you want to backup.
- Then, select the Google account in which you want to store your chat history.
- It will backup your data automatically whenever you are connected to Wifi.
Read Also : The Best Free Video Chat Apps Of 2021
Where is the WhatsApp Chat history stored on the PC?
WhatsApp Messenger is not only available on smartphones, the special advantage of this messenger is that you can also use it on your personal computer. However, there are two ways to use WhatsApp on a computer.
One of them is that you can download and install the WhatsApp application on your computer and use WhatsApp Messenger. The second method is that you can also use WhatsApp Messenger from your web browser.
Now you may be wondering how to find out where WhatsApp messages are stored on the PC. If you are using the WhatsApp application, you have to search by typing WhatsApp in the file search bar on PC, then all the folders related to WhatsApp will be shown in the search list, from there the WhatsApp messages will be saved in the file called logs and cached.
And if you use WhatsApp for the web, it means that you are using WhatsApp in a web browser, and if your browser is Google Chrome, then the WhatsApp data can be found in the download folder of your computer. WhatsApp data is available in the default download folder for all other browsers.
Final Words
Message history carries a lot of important information and moments. So it really becomes very sad if the messages are accidentally deleted. And you definitely don’t want that to happen to you, do you?
Now that you have read this article, you know where WhatsApp messages are stored on iPhone, Android phone, or PC. So hopefully you never have to face such an accident again, and easily you will be able to create a backup file of your chat history. There is also an application called iMyFone, iTransor that allows you to backup WhatsApp messages to your computer with just a few clicks.