Can't back up or restore your chat history
Android
iOS
Android
iOS
Note: Unfortunately, we can't restore your chats for you because your chat history isn’t stored on our servers.
If your backup gets stuck while creating or restoring a backup, try:
- Logging out and back into your Google Account.
- Turning your Wi-Fi off and on, or using mobile data.
- Force stopping or closing WhatsApp.
- Reducing the size of your backup as your device might be running too low on space. Learn how here.
- Checking that your device’s battery is fully charged or plugged into a power source.
- Turning off your non-primary SIM if you’re using a dual SIM.
- Check if the Google Play Services app needs to be updated. You can do this by opening your device Settings. Tap Apps and then Google Play Services. Scroll to the bottom and tap App Details. If your app displays Update, Google Play Services app is out of date.
If you receive any of the following error messages:
- ‘This account already exists on your device’
- 'Unable to access your account at this time'
- 'Unable to back up messages'
- Or your listed Google Account is grayed out when trying to add your Google Account to your WhatsApp
Follow these steps to resolve the issue:
- Go to your device settings.
- Tap Accounts and backup (or Accounts depending on your device) > Manage accounts.
- Select your Google Account.
- Tap Sync account > Menu > Sync now. Allow sync to finish so that your data is up-to-date.
- Go back to the previous screen and tap Remove account.
- Open WhatsApp to add the previously removed account.
- Tap More options > Settings > Chats > Chat backup > Google Account.
Note:
- If these steps don’t solve the issue, check your permission settings for WhatsApp.
- If your progress bar shows 100% complete and the notification doesn’t go away, there might still be background processes completing, including media upload or download. Please wait a few hours for the notification to go away.
- Partial or incomplete backups can occur due to various reasons such as an unstable internet connection, insufficient storage space on your device, or interruptions during the backup process.
- Your Google Account only stores one backup per WhatsApp phone number. Each new backup overwrites the old one, so there’s no way to restore a previous Google Account backup.
- If you restore a backup and chats are still missing, you most likely restored a backup file that didn't contain the missing chats. Be sure to manually back up your chats before changing devices or restoring so you have the most up-to-date chat history.
- If you've tried all the recommended troubleshooting steps and are still unable to restore your backup, your backup is most likely corrupted. Backups can become corrupted due to an interruption in the backup creation process, force-closing WhatsApp, sending or receiving corrupted files, or for other reasons. Unfortunately, WhatsApp can't restore a corrupted backup for you or determine what caused the corruption.
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