To back up WhatsApp on Android, open WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Chat backup and link your Google account. Set it to back up daily over Wi-Fi only, and a lost, stolen or broken phone won’t cost you your chats. This WhatsApp backup on Android takes two minutes to set up.
Turn on Google Drive backup
- Open WhatsApp and tap the three dots, then Settings.
- Go to Chats > Chat backup.
- Under Google Account, pick the Gmail account you’ll still have on your next phone.
- Tap Back up to make the first copy now.
The first backup can be large, so do it on Wi-Fi with the phone charging.
Choose frequency, videos and data use
On the same Chat backup screen:
- Frequency: choose Daily. Weekly or monthly means you can lose weeks of messages.
- Include videos: videos make backups much bigger. Leave them off if storage is tight; save important videos to Google Photos instead.
- Back up using cellular: keep this off to protect your Safaricom or Airtel bundles. The backup waits for Wi-Fi.
WhatsApp backups count towards your Google account storage, which is shared with Gmail and Google Photos. If that storage is full, backups stop. Clear space or buy more through Google One.
Check the backup worked
- On the Chat backup screen, look at Last backup: it should show a recent time and a size.
- To find the backup on Google Drive, open the Drive app, tap the menu or your profile, then Backups. On a computer, go to Google Drive, then Storage, and look for Backups. You can see it there but not open the chats; only WhatsApp can restore it.
When you move to a new phone, you restore it during WhatsApp setup with the same number and Google account. Full steps are in moving WhatsApp to a new phone.
Back up to an SD card or computer
WhatsApp also keeps a local backup on the phone itself, updated automatically every day.
- Open the Files app and go to Android > media > com.whatsapp > WhatsApp. On older phones the folder is simply WhatsApp in internal storage.
- The Databases folder holds your chats; Media holds photos, voice notes and documents.
- Copy the whole WhatsApp folder to an SD card, or connect the phone to a computer with a USB cable and copy it there.
To restore a local backup on a new phone, copy the folder into the same place before installing WhatsApp, then install and verify your number.
This also works for Huawei phones without Google services: use local backup, or Huawei’s own Phone Clone app when switching phones.
To back up WhatsApp images only, copy the Media > WhatsApp Images folder to your computer or turn on Google Photos backup for that folder.
On an iPhone the steps are different; see how to back up WhatsApp on iPhone.
Quick answers
Go to Settings > Chats > Chat backup, choose your Google account, set frequency to Daily and tap Back up.
In the Drive app open the menu and tap Backups. You’ll see the WhatsApp backup and its size, but chats can only be restored through WhatsApp.
Yes. Copy the WhatsApp folder from internal storage to the SD card with the Files app. If you deleted chats without a backup, see recovering deleted WhatsApp messages.
