WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the conveniences of WhatsApp is that it can sync your messages across multiple devices, so you can pick up a conversation from your phone on your computer or tablet.
WhatsApp Desktop is the desktop app that connects to your WhatsApp account on your phone. With WhatsApp Desktop, you can access your WhatsApp messages and chats from your computer. An important question is whether WhatsApp Desktop provides full syncing and backup of your messages across devices.
Does WhatsApp Desktop provide full syncing?
The short answer is yes, WhatsApp Desktop does provide full synchronization and backup of your WhatsApp chats and messages across devices. Here’s a more detailed look at how syncing works on WhatsApp Desktop:
- When you first set up WhatsApp Desktop, it connects to your phone by scanning a QR code from your phone. This links the Desktop app to your phone.
- Once connected, WhatsApp Desktop receives a complete copy of your message history from your phone. This includes all chats, groups, media, and messages.
- After the initial sync, any new messages you send or receive on your phone will automatically sync to the Desktop app in real-time. You’ll see them appear on Desktop as they come in.
- Any messages you send from Desktop will sync to your phone as well.
- If you delete messages or conversations on one device, this deletion will sync across to all devices.
- Your chat backups are also the same across devices. WhatsApp backs up your chats daily at 2AM on your phone. These backups sync to Desktop.
So in summary, after the initial sync, your message history and backups stay in full sync between your phone and WhatsApp Desktop. New messages, deletions, and backups are mirrored on both devices.
Requirements for WhatsApp Desktop sync
WhatsApp Desktop provides full sync as long as your phone meets certain requirements:
- Your phone must have an active internet connection to sync messages to Desktop.
- Your phone needs to be turned on and connected to WhatsApp for real-time syncing.
- Desktop only maintains a copy of your last 7 days of message history. Older messages still exist on your phone.
- Your phone must have enough storage space for backups that will sync to Desktop.
- To receive messages on Desktop, your phone has to be on and connected to the internet at least once every 7 days.
As long as your phone meets these requirements, your Desktop app will remain in sync. If your phone is off or offline for an extended time, you may see delays or gaps in the message history on your computer.
Synced data types
Here are the specific items that WhatsApp Desktop will synchronize from your phone:
- Messages and conversations
- Message timestamps
- Contacts
- Group names and participants
- Profile photos
- Media attachments (photos, videos, documents, etc.)
- Message deletions
- Read receipts and last seen status
In other words, your entire WhatsApp account is mirrored between your devices, giving you full access to all conversations on both platforms.
Real-time sync
WhatsApp Desktop received real-time message syncing in early 2020. This means new messages now appear on your computer at the same time as your phone.
Prior to this update, there was a delay before new messages would sync from phone to desktop. Now the sync is immediate, which is much more convenient.
The real-time sync works for both incoming and outgoing messages. When you receive a new message on your phone, it will show up on Desktop with no lag. Any messages you type and send from Desktop will instantly sync to your phone as well.
Sync when phone is offline
What happens if your phone is offline and can’t sync messages to Desktop? Here are some scenarios:
- If your phone is offline for up to 7 days, messages sent and received during that time will sync to Desktop when the phone comes back online.
- If your phone is offline for more than 7 days, your Desktop app will require a re-verification by scanning the QR code again.
- While your phone is offline, you can still draft messages on Desktop. But you won’t be able to send or receive messages until the phone reconnects.
- If your phone remains offline and unverified for over 45 days, your Desktop app will log out automatically for security reasons.
So in summary, short offline periods of up to 7 days are fine, but after that Desktop will have trouble syncing unless your phone reconnects to the internet.
Limited history on Desktop
While WhatsApp Desktop provides full real-time sync, it does have limited message history compared to your phone:
- WhatsApp Desktop will only maintain the last 7 days of message history.
- Older messages will still be present on your phone, but not on Desktop.
- The 7 day limit helps minimize storage requirements on your computer.
- If you delete a chat on Desktop older than 7 days, it will still remain on your phone.
So Desktop gives you a window into your last week of messages, while your full history is stored safely on your phone.
Can I transfer chats from phone to desktop?
Unfortunately, there is no way to manually transfer specific chats or messages from your phone to add them to WhatsApp Desktop. The Desktop app only receives the chats that are synchronized automatically from your phone.
If you have an old chat on your phone that you want to access on Desktop, here are your options:
- Scroll up and open the chat on your phone – this may cause it to sync across recent messages to Desktop.
- Make sure your phone has the chat backed up. Desktop syncs the latest backup from your phone.
- Email or export the chat from your phone, then access it on Desktop via email.
But there is no direct way to transfer older chats manually to the Desktop app unfortunately.
Does WhatsApp Desktop work offline?
WhatsApp Desktop does not fully work offline. It requires an active internet connection and synced connection to your phone in order to send, receive, and display messages.
Here is the offline behavior of Desktop when not connected to the internet:
- You can only access messages that have already synced from your phone.
- You cannot send or receive any new messages.
- Attachments and media will not download if they have not synced already.
- Sync will resume when your computer reconnects to the internet.
So while you can still view synced chats, WhatsApp Desktop has limited offline usefulness. An internet connection is required for full messaging capabilities.
Does WhatsApp sync across multiple computers?
You can only have one WhatsApp Desktop app connected to an account at a time. So WhatsApp does not sync across multiple computers simultaneously.
However, you can use WhatsApp Web in addition to Desktop. WhatsApp Web provides web browser access via QR code, similar to Desktop. You can scan the QR code from each computer to access your account.
The limitations are:
- Only one Desktop app installation per account.
- You can use multiple WhatsApp Web sessions along with the Desktop app.
- All WhatsApp Web sessions share the same sync and messages.
- If you log out of Desktop, that also logs out all Web sessions.
So practically, you likely only need the Desktop app on your primary computer, and WhatsApp Web for any additional devices.
Can I sync WhatsApp Desktop between phones?
Unfortunately, you cannot directly sync or transfer your WhatsApp Desktop data between different phones. For example, if you get a new phone number and want to migrate your Desktop chat history.
The Desktop app is tied to your phone number and account. To sync Desktop to a new phone:
- On your old phone, backup your WhatsApp chats either to Google Drive or local storage.
- On your new phone, install WhatsApp and restore your backup from the old phone.
- Link the Desktop app to your new phone by scanning the QR code.
- The Desktop app will now sync your message history from the new phone.
So you have to transfer your chat backup directly between phones first. There is no way to migrate just the Desktop sync or data itself.
Troubleshooting WhatsApp Desktop sync issues
Here are some common troubleshooting steps if you have issues getting WhatsApp Desktop to sync properly with your phone:
- Make sure your phone is connected to the internet and WhatsApp can connect.
- Check that notifications and background data are not disabled for WhatsApp on your phone.
- Force close and reopen the WhatsApp app on your phone.
- Uninstall and reinstall the Desktop app, then re-link your phone.
- On Desktop, log out then log back in by scanning the QR code.
- Restart your phone and computer to clear any glitches.
- Check that your phone has enough storage space for syncing backups.
- Make sure your OS, WhatsApp app, and Desktop app are up to date.
In most cases, a simple restart, re-linking, reinstall, or phone toggle can help get WhatsApp Desktop back in sync.
Checking WhatsApp Desktop sync status
You can quickly check the sync status of WhatsApp Desktop in a few ways:
- Open recent chats on Desktop and phone to see if latest messages match.
- Send a test message from Desktop to confirm if it syncs to your phone.
- Check Desktop connection status by clicking menu > settings > connected devices.
- Verify Desktop paired correctly by checking Linked Devices in phone WhatsApp settings.
This allows you to confirm that your Desktop app has an active sync with your phone.
Conclusion
To summarize, WhatsApp Desktop does provide full synchronization of your messages between your computer and phone. This includes your message history, new messages, deletions, backups, and media.
The requirements are that your phone must be on, connected, and have enough storage space for syncing backups. Desktop itself has a limited 7 day message history.
While you can only have one Desktop app per account, you can use multiple WhatsApp Web sessions for additional devices. Overall, WhatsApp Desktop helps seamlessly extend your chats and messages to your computer.