WhatsApp is unarguably one of the most convenient instant messaging apps in the world. People across time zones and age groups use the platform to share special moments with their family and friends in the form of messages, images, videos, and statuses. But sometimes while switching to a new smartphone or formatting your phone, it so happens those moments stand a chance of getting lost. Good news is that there’s no need to worry about losing chats as you can backup and restore them to a new device just as easily as you have those conversations.

The Facebook-owned messaging app allows users to easily backup all your chats to Google Drive. You will need a Google account activated as well as Google Play services installed on your smartphone in order to use Google Drive backup. Here’s a quick guide on how to backup WhatsApp chats and restore them.

How to back up chats to Google Drive

Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your Android smartphone and go to the ‘Settings’ section

Step 2: Now click on Chats > Chat backup > Backup to Google Drive

Step 3: Pick up a backup frequency other than Never

Step 4: Once you choose a backup frequency, select the Google account you would want to back up your chat history to. If you don’t have a Google account connected, you can tap on Add account when prompted and enter your login credentials

Step 5: Now, under ‘Backup Over’ option, you can pick if you want backup to take place only when you are connected to Wi-Fi or not

Step 6: Lastly hit the ‘Backup Chats’ options to save all your chats to Google Drive

How to restore chat history

In order to restore the chats, users need to use the same smartphone number and Google account used to create the backup. Here’s how to do:

Step 1: Re-install WhatsApp on your Android smartphone, so that you can restore chats through Google Drive

Step 2: Open the app and verify your number

Step 3: After the completion of restoration process, tap Next. Then, your chats will be displayed once initialization is complete

Note: In case you are unaware, as per WhatsApp, your mobile phone only stores up to the last seven days worth of local back up files. So, backing up files in Google Drive would be a better option.

Also Read: WhatsApp testing a feature to let you report specific messages