I was so confident that WhatsApp was backing itself up to Google ever since I got my new pixel but I just wasn’t. Then yesterday I factory reset my phone to fix something else and I lost it all. Years worth of chats from so many times in my past just aren’t there, all my texts with my mom and my family, group chats with old friends… I can’t even look at the app anymore, I’ll never use Whatsapp as much as I used to. I just don’t feel right with this change. There’s no way to get those chats back and now it doesn’t feel like there’s any point backing up WhatsApp now! I really wanna cry like this is so unfair!! And all I had to do was check Whatsapp before I did a factory reset… the TINIEST THING I could have done and prevented this and I didn’t fucking do it!!!
How do I get past this?
That’s rough. But now that it’s all gone, consider moving to disappearing messages. It’s kind of freeing when you don’t have to worry about the burden of immutability.
Its not a backup if it doesn’t follow the 321 Rules of Backing Up
The 3-2-1 backup rule is a strategy that recommends having three copies of your data backed up. The first copy is your primary critical data backup. The others are two redundant backup copies. You should use two different methods to back up your data, such as local and online backups. Then, you should have one copy designated for disaster recovery.
Eeesh, I’m sorry bud. Accept it as the lesson it is - if you don’t regularly test your backups, you don’t have backups. Whether you consider it expensive or relatively cheap is your call.
Also, I don’t know if this helps at all, but personally I find a clean slate kind of freeing.
The WhatsApp backups are stored in an area of your Google account that you can’t access, so you can’t really test without a new phone (or deleting all your data).
I don’t know if this is country specific, but I can just download all my chats as .txt files and do so regularly, as I don’t trust Meta not to delete anything and only keeping the last x years or something like that.
I don’t see how - is from within WhatsApp? I can’t see anything by browsing on the phone (Android) or by connecting to a computer.
edit: I can see how to export a single chat from Settings > Chats > Chat backup but not how to get it all without a thousand clicks.
Sorry, I meant just that, yes. I don’t want to archive any chat, just the one with emotional value to me. I do it once a year, so it’s not too bad doing this for single chats.
Can you not install WhatsApp on BlueStacks, MEmu, or any other Android emulator? Or would the official Android SDK emulator not work for this?
You need to move over your SIM to log in though…
So I spent half a minute googling and found this: https://faq.whatsapp.com/209942271778103/
What you need
- Android OS Lollipop 5.1, SDK 23 or above, or Android 6 or above installed on both your old and new Android phones.
And this goes over setting up the existing account on your computer by scanning a QR code, no mention of a SIM being required, so I guess you can indeed set it up either this way or using an emulator, for the purpose of testing backups 🤷♀️
ok, but we’re talking about testing backups, which isn’t this.
The process with a new phone (I just had to do this due to water damage) is put SIM in new phone, then it logs in and asks if you want to restore from the backup (you need to enable file access first) and then it restores from a hidden area of your Google account.
Edited my original response but no, the backup is not in a “hidden” area of Google Drive: https://www.androidpolice.com/find-whatsapp-backups-google-drive/
And yes, I am talking about testing your backups without needing a new phone or to wipe all your existing data, by restoring the data to an emulated instance of the WhatsApp app. In what way is restoring your backup not testing your backup?
I saw your edit and replied to it - that backup is still inaccessible other than via WhatsApp, although I guess it’s a comfort to see that they’re there.
You’d linked “How to transfer your chat history”, which isn’t testing the backup. If you deleted the data in the emulator, you’d need to login again to test the backups, which puts you back needing a SIM.
You can’t do anything yourself with those backups apart from delete or disable them:
So you can’t sign in to a new installation with a QR code? And you can’t restore this file to such an installation?
As far as I know, the QR code is only for logging in to the web chat (or desktop version, I guess).
It’s possible there is a way, but I looked into it and couldn’t make it work. Feel free to try yourself, but this conversation’s turning into an unwanted argument and I’m out.
Alright, well you may be out but you seem out to paint me like an instigator here so I will respond the once more.
If WhatsApp doesn’t provide a way to test their backups, that sucks. It doesn’t make the adage “an untested backup is no backup at all” any less true, it just means that WhatsApp doesn’t allow best practices when it comes to backing up your chats. I only push back because I find it hard to believe there’s no way to import a backup to a desktop installation, and your initial points were incorrect, but I don’t use the app myself and I don’t feel like signing up just to test it. I do enough of that nonsense at work. Take care, I guess.
You’re downvoting and calling me wrong based on 30 seconds of research, so I’d say you are the instigator.
your initial points were incorrect
The backups in Google Drive are not accessible to you. The source you found doesn’t contradict me, because it doesn’t mention being able to access that backup, only delete or disable them.
You can only transfer your account, which doesn’t test the backup. Getting to the stage where you’ll be able to test the backup leaves you not logged in. The backup process needs a SIM.
You can just backup the Whatsapp directory yourself. Whatsapp creates a message backup file every day or two, even when Google Drive is disabled. To recover them you need to copy them over. Not well documented.
It’s going to take some time. I’ve been there as have plenty of people who came to me for support when it happened to them.
While right now you’re thinking of it in terms of loss, you can also celebrate the lightness that comes from not having the data anymore.
There’s more…
What was the funniest thing you remember that was in there?
Now consider that you remember it. You don’t need to check, you remember the things that made that memory funny.
So, take a deep breath, add it to the list of stupid things you’ve done to date that didn’t kill you and then go and drink a glass of water and go for a walk.
This too will pass.
Now consider that you remember it. You don’t need to check, you remember the things that made that memory funny.
I’m only 25 and it feels like so many of the things I have are just memories. It feels like my life is slowly coming to a close and I don’t know if the future is even there.
And you know what the worst part is? I don’t really remember much anyways.
My 20 year old cat died and all I can do is remember him and look at pictures. I don’t want to have to remember things just to keep them… I’m just not reliable enough.
No idea if you’d enjoy it but I’ve been keeping a (digital) diary since 2018 (in a .txt file) and for me it’s really fun either checking out what I did this day last year (two, three years ago) and also randomly reading around. It’s a really nice addition to having photos (and my dreams would be to somehow combine the two, easily). So many things I’d never remember without this, like the one time the electricity went out for a afternoon in my town. I’m just writing a few sentences each morning of what I did (ate, worked, watched, felt, thought) yesterday each morning.
you can also celebrate the lightness that comes from not having the data anymore.
For years after my son’s suicide I backed up our texts. From one daily android update to the next, phone after phone. I always bought a phone that I knew I could root so I could ensure the ability to restore these backups. Then I got careless during one rom flash and lost them. It was a huge weight lifted when that happened. I realized that I had never once gone and reread any of them since the week after his death. And the constant backing up caused so much stress.
