Resolved How does Whatsapp backup work?

[aiya_au]

Hi guys,

How does the Whatsapp backup work? The in-app chat backup I assumes is stored on icloud drive (currently taking up 926 MB). The icloud backup of my whole iphone (settings -> icloud -> storage ->manage storage -> aiya_au's iphone) lists the whatsapp app as 1.3 GB. I'm running out of icloud space and I want to avoid data duplication.

So my question is, am I duplicating my whatsapp chat history on icloud through the app backup and on icloud drive through the in-app chat backup?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Goatllama]

I'm assuming the messages keep building up and being added to iCloud, or at least that's what it sounds like. Don't know if there's a way to mitigate that buildup or not. I'm as curious as you are!

 

[aiya_au]

I posted the same question on reddit and got the below reply. It was what i suspected.

"The iCloud backup and having the device backup does duplicate data.

Backing up the phone will back up whatsapp, so if you restored to a new phone even without enabling the inbuilt backup your data would be there.

If you enable the whatsapp iCloud backup you are able to restore your data to a new phone, without performing a full iCloud restore.

Personally I would keep the in built whatsapp backup enabled and untick it from the complete iPhone backup.

I swap my backup often between my two phones using just the built in whatsapp feature, without restoring etc."

 

[Goatllama]

Oh cool, so it has a built in backup! Good to know. Thanks for sharing.