I'm in a really tough spot and hoping for a miracle here. I had about 7 years of WhatsApp chats stored on my Realme 8, and I thought I was safe because I backed up everything to Google Drive every week. But after getting a new Realme 14x 5G, things went horribly wrong:
1. I attempted to use the official "Transfer Chats" feature, but it crashed halfway through.
2. Then I tried restoring from Google Drive, only to find out it said "No backup found". Turns out the backup never uploaded correctly.
3. The worst part? When I went back to my Realme 8 to check, logging in with my number logged me out, and when I logged back in, everything was wiped clean.
Now I've lost all my chat history from 2019 until now – that's so much vital information, memories, and even passwords. The only sliver of hope I have is a msgstore database file from 2023 that I found on my old phone. I've attempted everything I could think of to get WhatsApp to read this file on my new phone, like renaming it and placing it in the right folder, but nothing is working. Can someone please tell me how I can get WhatsApp to recognize this local file on Android 14? Also, is there any chance that the data might still be hiding somewhere on my old phone? I'm really desperate here!
4 Answers
You might want to double-check your Google Drive settings and see if any backups exist there. Sometimes they can be hidden a bit. It's worth trying once more before giving up completely!
I feel for you. Unfortunately, if WhatsApp isn't recognizing that backup, it might not be able to read it due to the encryption. Your best bet is really to focus on recovering from a valid backup next time, as heartbreaking as this situation is. I know it's frustrating, but sometimes these apps can be pretty finicky with file recovery.
I totally get that. Is there any workaround to decrypt or access that msgstore file?
You're definitely in a tough spot. Just a reminder that a backup isn’t really a backup unless you've confirmed it works. For passwords and sensitive info, consider adopting a dedicated password manager. It's much safer in the long run!
Yeah, apps like Keepass or Proton Pass are great for managing sensitive info. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!
It's unfortunate but it sounds like you're out of luck. Moving forward, definitely check and test your backups regularly to avoid this heartache in the future. It sucks to learn the hard way, but at least you can be better prepared next time.
Are you suggesting I check my Google Drive or my phone's physical storage?