How to Back Up WhatsApp Chats

• Android: a Google account with Drive space
• iPhone: an iCloud account with space
• Wi-Fi, and ideally a charger for the first run

1. 01Set it up on AndroidOpen WhatsApp, tap the three dots, then Settings, Chats, Chat backup. Choose the Google account to back up to, set the frequency — daily is the sensible default — and decide whether to include videos, which is what makes a backup large. Tap Back up to run the first one now rather than waiting for the schedule. Android also keeps a local backup on the phone itself, but that dies with the phone, so it is not a substitute.
2. 02Set it up on iPhoneOpen WhatsApp, tap Settings at the bottom right, then Chats, then Chat Backup. Turn on Auto Backup and pick a frequency, and choose whether to include videos. The backup goes to iCloud under the Apple ID signed into the phone, so that account needs free space — a full iCloud is the single commonest reason an iPhone backup silently stops working.
3. 03Check it is actually runningBoth platforms show the date and size of the last backup on the same screen. Look at it now. A backup that says "Never" or shows a date weeks old is the normal state for people who assumed it was automatic, and it is worth finding out today rather than after a phone is lost. Size matters too: if it is tiny, media is probably excluded.
4. 04Restore onto a new phoneThis is the step with the trap. Install WhatsApp on the new phone, verify the same phone number, and when it offers to restore from backup, accept. That prompt appears only during setup — once you skip it and start using WhatsApp, the only way back is to uninstall and start again. The Google account or Apple ID must be the same one that holds the backup, and the phone number must match.
5. 05Move between Android and iPhoneGoogle Drive and iCloud backups are not interchangeable, so switching platforms does not work through the normal restore. WhatsApp instead offers a device-to-device transfer during setup on the new phone, using a cable or a QR code, which moves the history across directly. It has to be done at setup time on the new device, and both phones need to be present — there is no way to do it later from a backup file.
6. 06Know what the backup does not protectTwo things. A backup is tied to the phone number: change the number and the old backup is not restorable to the new one. And backups are not permanent — Google has removed WhatsApp backups from Drive after long periods of inactivity. For a conversation you genuinely cannot lose, Export chat from that chat gives you a text file you hold yourself, which no account policy can delete.
7. 07If this is a business numberA phone-based backup ties your customer history to a handset and a personal Google or Apple account, usually an employee’s. When they leave, the history leaves with them, and there is no admin who can retrieve it. That is a different problem from backup and it is not solved by backing up more carefully — it is solved by the conversations living on a business account rather than a phone.

• Check the last backup date today — "I assumed it was on" is the usual story after a lost phone
• Excluding videos makes backups dramatically smaller and faster with little practical loss
• The restore prompt appears only during setup; skip it and you must uninstall to try again
• A backup is tied to the phone number — changing number leaves the old backup unusable
• For a conversation that genuinely matters, Export chat gives you a file nobody else controls

Automatic backups running to Google Drive or iCloud, a known-good last backup date, and a clear path for restoring or moving between platforms without losing the history.