Different messaging apps are a part of our daily communication. One of the more widely used apps is Whatsapp. This app is easy to use and light for memory space. However, there are times when you might want to uninstall it or even uninstall it by mistake. Damage to your phone may also lead to information loss in memory. Whichever the case is back-up is a must. Usually, the app is designed to automatically backup and save your chats on the phone memory and/or SD card (depending on your settings). The messages are automatically backed up at 3 am every day. However, it doesn’t work when you uninstall the app. So, if you want to retrieve your chats or save your information, manual backup is a must. Here is some simple step you can take to prevent information loss:

• Backup Information

1. Built-in memory and/ or SD card:

If you don’t have an internet connection or just don’t want to spend data you can just save on your phone!! Here’s how-

First, check if you do have an SD card in your phone. If not it will be saved in your phone memory. Open the app and tap on the “More” (…) option. You will find settings. In there you can find “Chats and calls”, tap on that. There will be a “backup” option and there you have it. Easy as that.

To find the files in ‘File Explorer’: If you do have an SD card the files will be located in this path- “SD card/ WhatsApp/ Win phone backup”. If you don’t find it there check your storage sense in settings. It may have been saved on your phone.

Here are some precautions to avoid unwanted confusions:

• Insufficient storage space prevents the app from saving necessary information. So make sure you have enough space in your phone and/ or SD card. If you don’t have enough space in the system then restoring the backup might as well be impossible. If you can’t restore your backup, limited space may be a reason.
• Another common mistake people make is that they don’t use the same phone number as they used to create the backup.
• A corrupted SD card and/ or chat history won’t be able to restore your backup.
• After every manual backup makes sure you have it in your phone. Or you won’t be able to do anything but regret it later on. So just a simple check whether your backup exists or not saves you from a lot of trouble.

2. Use Google Drive!!

The best way to save any of your information is google drive. And now WhatsApp makes it a whole lot easier for you to save your chats and call history in the drive. Just a simple backup before uninstall can save you from the hassle. Here’s what you can do to get an online backup:

Just as before opening the app and on the top right corner you can find the “more” (…) option, tap on that. Go to settings and you will find chats. Tap on chats back up and tap on “Backup”.

Not only that if you want to export a particular chat with a single person or from a group chat you can use the “Email chat” feature. To do that all you have to do is:

Open the individual or group chat and go to the “more” option. Tap “Email chat” and find “Attach media”. And done! You will receive an email in no time. The steps you take helps the app to send your information in the form of an email. All the information will be attached to your email as a ‘.txt’ document. This way you can easily attach 40,000 messages. However, if you choose to attach media files you can only attach about 10,000 latest messages. Remember that only the recently sent messages and/ or media will be attached. Point to remember is that the mentioned constraints will happen due to maximum email sizes.

• Restore Information

WhatsApp has an inbuilt system to restore all the information whenever you verify your number after installing the app. There will be a pop dialogue box asking for your permission to restore your chats and media history after number verification. However if it doesn’t detect back up by itself, here’s what you can do to resolve the situation:

1. Check if you are log into the same Google account you used as the last time to backup information.
2. Again check if you are using the same phone number as before. These two information contributes a lot for the backup so using the same number and Gmail account is important.
3. Your SD card and/ or chat history is corrupted. There is no way you’ll be able to retrieve information if you virus on your phone.
4. A backup file doesn’t exist. There is a chance that you forgot to even make a backup or accidentally deleted it from your phone or drive.
5. If you’re restoring data from your phone and can’t find it there’s a high chance that it wasn’t saved in your SD card but rather in your phone memory ( or vice-versa)
6. There is also a possibility that the information you want is not very recent. You can only save local back files from the previous seven days and google drive will only have the most recent data. However, if you want to restore older chats and media files here’s what you can do:
   • If you already don’t have it in your phone then download a file manager app
   • Open your file manager and tap on SD card. In there you will find the Whatsapp folder. If not then look for the folder in Internal/ Phone/ Default/ Main storage. After you open it tap on Database
   • Rename the backup file from “msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12” to “msgstore.db.crypt12” (This may seem too technical or complicated but don’t be intimidated. This is easier than it seems). You may find the backup to be on an earlier protocol (for example, crypt9 or crypt10). If so then don’t change it.
   • Here’s the easiest step- try Uninstall and reinstalling the app and tap on restore when prompted again

And there you have it. Keep your information safe and secured!!