WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. It allows people to easily communicate with friends, family, coworkers, and more through text, voice notes, video calls, and more. With WhatsApp being so widely used, many users have years worth of conversations, media, and data stored in the app that they don’t want to lose.
This brings up an important question – is regularly backing up your WhatsApp data necessary? There are arguments on both sides of this issue.
Reasons backing up WhatsApp may be necessary
Here are some reasons why regularly backing up your WhatsApp data could be important:
- Avoid losing valuable conversations and media if you lose your phone or it stops working
- Keeping a record of important conversations for future reference
- Ability to transfer conversation history to a new phone
- Protection against bugs, glitches, or app crashes that cause data loss
- Backup can help recover data if WhatsApp account is deleted
- Peace of mind knowing your data is stored safely outside your phone
For many WhatsApp users, the conversation history and media they have saved in the app have sentimental value or contain important information they don’t want to lose. Backing up gives them an extra layer of protection.
Losing your phone
One of the most common ways people can lose their WhatsApp data is by losing their phone or having it stolen. If this happens and you don’t have a recent backup, all of your WhatsApp conversations and media would be lost forever. This could mean losing thousands of conversations, photos, videos, voice messages, and more that can’t be retrieved.
Phone stops working
Phones can also unexpectedly stop working due to technical issues, water damage, physical damage, and more. Even if the phone’s storage itself still works, if the phone won’t turn on you have no way to access the WhatsApp data stored on that device.
Transferring to a new phone
When you get a new phone, a WhatsApp backup makes it easy to transfer your full conversation history to the new device. This lets you pick up right where you left off without losing any previous chats or media files. Without a backup, you’d have to start all your WhatsApp chats and groups from scratch.
Recovering deleted data
There are also cases when a WhatsApp account gets deleted from the app itself, whether by accident or if the account was intentionally deleted. While WhatsApp does not store anyone’s chat history on their servers, having your own backup allows you to restore your account and recover deleted conversations if this happens.
Reasons WhatsApp backup may not be necessary
On the other hand, there are also reasons why some may argue backing up WhatsApp is not really necessary:
- WhatsApp has reliable data protection and recovery processes built-in
- Backups take time, effort, and extra storage space
- Many users don’t have irreplaceable or critical data in their chats
- Can enable law enforcement to more easily access your data if required
- Hacking is rare, and WhatsApp encrypts all chats and calls
- Losing your phone doesn’t necessarily mean losing your WhatsApp account or data
Built-in WhatsApp data protection
WhatsApp already has measures in place to help protect and recover data without third-party backups. For example, WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted so they can’t be accessed by anyone except the sender and recipient. There is also a feature to restore deleted chats for up to 60 days after they are deleted. And even without a backup, your WhatsApp account can be restored on a new phone as long as you still have access to your phone number.
Time and storage space required
Setting up WhatsApp backups requires time and effort to configure, remember to do regularly, and make sure it completes successfully. Backups also take up storage space, whether locally on a phone/PC or in the cloud. For people that have limited storage available, the extra space used by WhatsApp backups may be a significant downside.
Most chats aren’t critical
While some users have important or irreplaceable conversations on WhatsApp, many people’s chats consist of casual conversations with friends, family, and groups that don’t need to be backed up. Losing this kind of non-essential chat history may not be a big deal for a lot of users.
Privacy and security risks
Law enforcement agencies can request access to your WhatsApp backup files if they have a legal reason to do so. Having backups could therefore potentially expose more of your WhatsApp data to government entities compared to not having any backups.
There are also hacked or unofficial ways that other non-government entities could try to access your chat backups if these files are not properly secured.
Hacking WhatsApp is very difficult
While no system is completely foolproof, WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption and other security measures to make it very unlikely chats could be hacked or accessed by anyone besides the sender and recipient. So for most users, having backups specifically to guard against hacking risks may be unnecessary.
Factors to consider when deciding on WhatsApp backup
When deciding if you should back up your WhatsApp data, here are some important factors to consider:
- Importance of your chat history – If your chats contain valuable conversations, media or info you don’t want to lose, backup is more essential.
- Sentimental value – Backup may be more useful if your chats have special sentimental meaning you want to preserve.
- Frequency of use – Heavy WhatsApp users have more to lose if data is deleted versus occasional users.
- Cloud vs. local backup – Cloud backups provide extra protection if phone is lost/damaged but may have privacy risks.
- Auto vs. manual backup – Auto backup ensures it runs regularly but may back up unimportant chats.
- Storage space – Backups take storage which may be limited on some devices.
Considering these factors will help determine if regularly backing up your WhatsApp data is really worth the effort for your specific circumstances.
How to backup WhatsApp chats
If you decide backing up your WhatsApp data is important, here are the steps to set up backups:
Local Android backup
- Open WhatsApp Settings
- Select Chats > Chat backup > Back up to Google Drive
- Choose backup frequency (daily, weekly, etc.)
- Tap Back up over cellular data or only Wifi
- Tap Account and choose a Google account
iCloud backup for iOS
- Go to iPhone Settings > tap your name
- Select iCloud > iCloud Backup > Back up Now
- Enable WhatsApp backups by tapping on WhatsApp
Local computer backup
- On Android phone, open WhatsApp > More options > Settings > Chats > Chat backup
- Tap Backup to Google Drive and select Back up to local disk
- Choose frequency and folder location
- Connect phone to computer with USB cable to transfer backup files
Be sure to back up your WhatsApp data regularly, such as daily or weekly, to have your most recent chats saved. Also remember to periodically move your backup files to new devices or computers when upgrading your phone.
Conclusion
Backing up WhatsApp ultimately comes down to your specific needs and priorities. If you have a lot of important or sentimental chats and media in the app that would be hard to replace, then maintaining regular backups is highly recommended. However, if you mostly have casual conversations that could easily be recreated if lost, backups may be less necessary.
The best approach is to carefully consider what kinds of data you store in WhatsApp and how much effort backups require compared to the benefit they provide for your situation. This can help you find the right balance between convenience and protection that makes sense for your usage of WhatsApp.