Re: How to back up WhatsApp to local storage on your Android device

On 12 Apr 2025 09:26:43 +0100 (BST), Theo wrote :

On Android there's a WhatsApp folder on your local storage that contains
messages db, media etc. Copy to the new phone and WA will access it.

Hi Theo,

While that sounds so easy, I haven't tried it (as I'm afraid to lose
everything in testing) but it "might" not be as simple as a plain copy.

I found some steps on the net which are more complicated than a simple
copy, but which are, in theory, essentially a copy (with some tweaks).

1. Copy the WhatsApp Databases folder over to your Windows PC.
   This PC\Galaxy A32 5G\Internal storage\Android\media\com.whatsapp\WhatsApp\Databases
2. Factory reset your phone & re-install WhatsApp but DO NOT OPEN IT!
3. Create the Databases folder (if necessary) on the Android filesys
4. Copy msgstore.db.crypt14 files from the Windows backup into it
   If you have multiple backup files with dates in their names,
   you might want to copy the most recent one only and rename it
   to msgstore.db.crypt14. (Mine has a lot of "incremental" databases.)
5. Only after you've populated Databases, now you can start WhatsApp.
6. Go through the initial setup and phone number verification process.
7. WhatsApp should detect the local backup file you put in Databases.
8. When asked if you want to restore, tape "Restore".

What worries me is this next line which is found in most instructions:
  "If you had end-to-end encrypted backups enabled
   and if you don't have the password or key,
   then you won't be able to restore them."

Also you need to act fast so you'd better know what you're doing.
Any messages received after you copied the directory to your PC will be
lost.

Most of the articles I've seen suggest the chances of a successful
restoration by simply copying it back after a factory reset are low.

That's said to be because WhatsApp's intended restoration method relies on
Google Drive backups detected during the app's setup process. But I don't
see why Google Drive has to be involved just for encryption keys to work.

Do you have any idea how to *test* the encryption without danger of losing
everything?