How to Automatically Back Up WhatsApp Chats to Google Drive

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WhatsApp logo against a green backgroundWhatsApp is without any doubt one of the most popular instant messaging services. WhatsApp chats generally by default are not saved on your device. The media files may get saved locally depending on your settings. Do you want to save your WhatsApp chats at a safe location? Well, WhatsApp gives you a handy solution to do the same. You can configure a setting to automatically save all of your chats on Google Drive. This setting can be fine-tuned enabling you to define the frequency of automated backups. A manual backup option is also available. I generally prefer the latter option but this guide is all about configuring the automated backups. Before you go ahead, make sure you're logged in to your Google account on your smartphone. And, make sure you've enough free space in your Google storage to save the backups. If you're logged in to multiple Google accounts on your device, you can select the account you want to use for the backups. Let's get started and see how to backup chats on Google Drive.

WhatsApp logo against a green background If your chats include lots of heavy images, make sure you have a stable and fast internet connection to ensure the smooth completion of backups. A slow connection can hinder the backup operation.

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I'm using this backup option regularly and find it very stable and easy to use. So, grab your smartphone and follow this guide to ensure your chats on WhatsApp are securely saved on a cloud.

To configure automated backup, first of all, go to your WhatsApp Settings option. Here, click the Chats option as shown in the image below.

WhatsApp Chats option on settings page On the Chats setting screen, scroll down a bit and select the Chat backup option.

Chat backup option in WhatsApp On the chat backup screen, select the End-to-end encrypted backup option and click the TURN ON button. Clicking this option activates the password option.

Encrypted backup option for WhatsApp chats Encrypted backup turn on button on WhatsApp Click the CREATE PASSWORD button and complete the process. Thereafter, you'll be asked to create an encrypted backup.

Create password for chat backups in WhatsApp Password field in WhatsApp After creating the password, you'll be asked to create an encrypted backup. Click the CREATE button to complete the process. Depending on the volume and size of your chats, it may take some time to complete this process.

Create encrypted backup of chats

Note: If you're ok with unencrypted backups, skip this backup encryption process—entirely.

Next, it's time to configure the backup frequency. To do that click the Back up to Google Drive option on the Chat backup settings screen.

Google Drive backup option on WhatsApp Google Drive backup frequency option for WhatsApp chats Feel free to choose the backup frequency as per your needs. You can also opt for the manual option where chats are only saved when you explicitly press the backup button.

The next step involves the selection of a Google Account where you want to backup all the chats.

Selection of Google account for chat backups Add or select Google account for WhatsApp chat backups This option enables you to either select from one of the existing Google accounts which are already in a logged-in state on your device or you can use the Add account option to log in to the new Google account where you want all the backups to be forwarded to.

Option to select data signal type for chat backups on WhatsApp And last but not least is the Back up over option. This option enables you to select the type of data signal on the mobile device you want to use for the backup operations.

The latter option is (shown above) is recommended unless your chat backups are bulky.

I'll also recommend keeping the Include videos disabled else your Google Drive storage will get full in no time. So, that's how you configure automated backups for WhatsApp chats on Google Drive.