Everything About WhatsApp Local Backup in 2025

Part 1: How to Take Local Backup of WhatsApp

The built-in WhatApp local backup feature allows WhatsApp to automatically back up your chats and save them as an encrypted file to your phone's internal storage every morning at 2:00 am. If you don’t want to wait until 2:00 am for the auto-backup, you can manually take a immediate WhatsApp local backup Android.

Create Local Backup WhatsApp on Android

Creating a local backup WhatsApp is as easy as creating a Google Drive backup. All you need to do is do a few taps. That said, here’s how to take a WhatsApp local backup Android.

• Open WhatsApp and tap on the three-dot icon in the top right-hand corner.
• Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
• Go to Chat > Chat backup.

• Tap on the BACK UP option to create a WhatsApp backup on Google Drive. (Note:Remember to check the "Include videos" option if WhatsApp videos are needed.)

  

  When a Google Drive backup is created, a copy of WhatsApp data will also be generated and saved to your Android phone's internal storage.

Backup WhatsApp Only to Local Storage on Android

If you don't want to use your Google Drive account to backup your chats, you can always rely on WhatsApp Local Backup feature and force WhatsApp to back up chats only to local memory. Here's how to do.

• Open WhatsApp and go to Settings.
• Tap on Chats and then select Chat backup.
• Under the Google Drive settings section, tap on "Back up to Google Drive".
• From the options available, select Never to prohibit WhatsApp from uploading a backup to Google Drive.

• Now, tap on "BACK UP" and WhatsApp will start creating a local backup on your Android phone and save it to the internal storage or a SD Card.

  

So that's all how to take a local backup of WhatsApp on Android.

Part 2: Where Is WhatsApp Local Backup Stored?

If you're wondering where is local backup of WhatsApp stored, then this section will show you how to access WhatsApp local backup.

You see, WhatsApp local backups are stored on your phone's internal storage or SD card if your phone has one. You can use your phone's built-in file manager to access WhatsApp local backup location Android. Now, let's see where the WhatsApp local backup location is on Android.

• Open File Manager on your phone. If your phone doesn’t have one, install it from the google Play Store.
• Go to Internal Storage or SD Card.
• Find the WhatsApp folder and tap "Databases".

• In the Databases folder, you should see all the WhatsApp local backup files which are encrypted by WhatsApp. The earlier local WhatsApp backups are named in the "msgstore-YYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12" format, while the most recent backup of WhatsApp does not include the Date in its name.

  

Part 3: How to Restore WhatsApp Chat from Local Backup

Now that you’ve known where your WhatsApp local backups are stored, it would be easy for you to learn how to restore WhatsApp from local backup you took earlier.

To restore WhatsApp from local backup, you will need to reinstall the app and restore it once you get prompted. Here are the steps you must follow.

• Make sure you have created a backup using the method mentioned above.

• Find the most recent backup file "msgstore.db.crypt12" and rename it "msgstore_Backup.db.crytp12".

  
• Open WhatsApp and continue with the sign-in process.

• When you see an option to restore, select it.

  

Your WhatsApp data will now be restored from the WhatsApp local backup Android.

Part 4: How to Delete WhatsApp Local Backup

If you want to know how to delete WhatsApp local backup to free up your phone's memory, this section has the right information for you.

Deleting WhatsApp local backup just takes less than a minute, and here's how you can do it.

• Open your phone's File Manager.
• Go to Internal Storage/SD Card > WhatsApp > Databases.
• Browse the local backups of last 7 days and select the backup file you wish to delete.

• Once selected, tap on the three-dot icon and select "Delete" to get the unwanted WhatsApp local backup removed.

  

There you go, that’s how you delete the local backups of your WhatsApp.

Extra Tip: How to Recover WhatsApp Messages without Backup

If you're looking for the easiest method to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup, there's nothing better than Tenorshare UltData WhatsApp Recovery. As a tool designed for WhatsApp data recovery, it allows you to recover almost every type of deleted WhatsApp data from your phone, including deleted text messages and lost WhatsApp chats without backup. In this section, we mainly talk about recovering deleted WhatsApp messages.

Here's how to use UltData WhatsApp Recovery to recover your WhatsApp chats.

• Download and install UltData WhatsApp Recovery on your PC by clicking the DOWNLOAD option below.
  

  

• Once installed, click "Device" on the main screen.

  

• Connect your phone to the PC using a USB cable and enable USB Debugging by following the on-screen instructions.

  

• Click "Start" to scan for deleted WhatsApp data once your Android gets detected. Make sure you're logged in to your WhatsApp account.

  

• Backup your current WhatsApp data by following the on-screen instructions, then click "Backed up! Continue".

  

• Select the WhatsApp data you want to recover, then click "Recover" in the bottom-right corner and wait for the WhatsApp data to be recovered.

  

Conclusion

In this article, you have learned everything you needed to know about the WhatsApp local backup feature. As a nice feature, WhatsApp local backup lets you backup your WhatsApp chats to your device’s internal storage, without having to upload the content to your Google Drive. The best part is that the local backup files are all encrypted, so no third party can hack them and access your messages.

Remember, if you want to recover lost WhatsApp messages anyway, Tenorshare UltData WhatsApp Recovery is your top pick.