After introducing WhatsApp for Web and WhatsApp Voice, their upcoming feature would be good news for those that switch phones often. If you’re tired of manually copying WhatsApp database files, their new version now supports direct cloud backup with Google Drive integration.
At time of writing, it isn’t available officially on our Google Play Store but you may download the latest WhatsApp version 2.12.45 as an APK download.
After installing the latest version, you’ll notice a new Material Design UI and you can find the cloud storage backup feature under Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup. From here, you’ll need to associate a Google Drive account to WhatsApp. If you’re afraid of consuming your precious mobile data, you’re also able to set to backup over WiFi only.
In terms of backup, WhatsApp would upload incremental updates after its initial upload. This means it will only backup subsequent bite size changes instead of the entire backup file periodically. You are able to set the frequency of the backup from daily, weekly or monthly. Only chat conversations and photos are saved, so you’ll still need to backup videos the old fashion way. The next time you install WhatsApp on a fresh smart phone, you’ll be asked if you have a Google Drive account to restore.
If you want to try it out now, you can download the latest APK file here.
