How to restore chats from your phone's WhatsApp database files

Android
Note: This process only works if you’re using Android OS 9 or below.
We recommend using your Google Account to back up and restore your chats and media. Learn how here. If you’re unable to do this, you can try restoring chats from your WhatsApp database files, but keep in mind you won’t be able to recover any media through this process.
To restore your chat history database file, you must first turn off Google Account backups by following these steps:
  1. Open Google Drive.
  2. Tap the Menu icon > Backups.
  3. Tap the three dots next to WhatsApp backup > Turn off backup.
Once Google Account backups are turned off, WhatsApp will instead search for database files to restore chats. Follow these steps to restore these files:
  1. Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp.
  2. Tap Restore when prompted.
Note: Every day, WhatsApp performs general app maintenance. This process improves app performance and creates a current chat history database file. However, this file doesn’t include your media.

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