One of the features of WhatsApp is the possibility save a backup of your chats on Google Drive, which you can access if you change your cell phone, for example. That way, you can keep any conversations you’ve had on the new phone. When you create a WhatsApp backup, it’s saved in a folder in Google Drive that users normally don’t have access to because it’s a hidden folder. We will show you where WhatsApp backup is located in Google Drive and how you can achieve it.
How to view Whatsapp backups in Drive
In order to get the WhatsApp backup mentioned above, the first thing we have to do is open a browser on our PC and drive.google.com enter. We get to this screen:
Google Drive main view
Then we click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen:
Google Drive settings wheel
In the menu that appears, click Settings or settings:
Google Drive configuration menu
The following screen will appear. Click there Manage Apps (manage apps):
Google drive settings
In the list below you have to scroll down until you reach the WhatsApp Messenger option:
Google Drive Applications
What can we do with WhatsApp backup to Google Drive?
One can only delete the WhatsApp backup, disable the backup creation feature or restore it to a new device, nothing else. The WhatsApp backup to Google Drive has only one real purpose: to restore it when you need it. You cannot download your messages and they are completely inaccessible (they are encrypted). You can’t do anything else with it. When you click options you only see these options, in this case just the disconnect function:
Google Drive WhatsApp configuration options
If you unlink WhatsApp from Google Drive, you will no longer be able to create backups and all your data will be erased.
The next time you log into WhatsApp, a message will appear informing you that the backup has been disabled and that you must go through the Google sign-in process again with the app to save the data back to Google Drive. This means that if you don’t do this, if you switch phones and reinstall WhatsApp, you’ll lose all your conversations and have to start over.
Is it possible to download WhatsApp backup from Google Drive?
no As we have already seen, you can only restore the backup, delete it or disable the function, so you cannot download WhatsApp backup from Google Driven. You will see that there is no option for that, at least not for the moment. The backup is stored on Google Drive thanks to the agreement between WhatsApp and Google, but there is no option for the user to download the backup and edit it themselves.