WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. It allows you to send messages, photos, videos, documents and more to your contacts. Over time, your WhatsApp chats can take up a lot of storage space on your phone. To free up space, you may want to back up your WhatsApp data and save it externally on your computer. WhatsApp lets you back up your chats to Google Drive or locally to your device’s storage. The local backups are saved as ZIP files that contain your messages database and media files. If you need to access your backups, you’ll need to know how to extract the WhatsApp chats from the ZIP file.
Here are the key things you need to know about extracting your WhatsApp chats from a ZIP backup:
Why ZIP Backups?
WhatsApp uses ZIP compression to create localized backups. Zipping the backup offers several advantages:
– Compression saves storage space. ZIPs can compress your backup by up to 90%, letting you save a lot more backups locally before running out of space.
– ZIPs bundle all related data. The ZIP file neatly packages your messages database, media files, and other data related to your chats.
– Encryption provides security. Local backups are encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption. This prevents unauthorized access to your chats.
– Portability makes transfers easy. ZIPs make it straightforward to transfer backups between devices via email, cloud storage, file transfer, etc.
So in summary, ZIP backups provide a compressed, encrypted, and portable package for your WhatsApp data. When you need to restore your chats, you’ll need to extract the backup files from the ZIP archive.
Where WhatsApp Stores Backups
WhatsApp saves your chat history and media attachments in an SQLite database file named msgstore.db. This database contains all your messages, group information, contacts, etc. in a structured format.
Your media like photos and videos are saved in a separate media folder. All these files are then compressed and encrypted into a single ZIP file when WhatsApp creates a local backup.
On Android devices, WhatsApp saves backup ZIPs in the following location:
/sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases
On iOS devices, local backups are saved to:
/User/Library/Databases/ChatStorage.sqlite
So when you access your phone’s storage, you’ll find the WhatsApp backup ZIPs in these folders.
How to Extract Chats from ZIP on Android
Here are the steps to extract your WhatsApp chats on Android:
1. Install a file manager app like ES File Explorer to browse your phone’s storage.
2. Navigate to the WhatsApp/Databases folder as shown above.
3. Copy the latest ZIP backup file to another location like your computer or an SD card.
4. On your computer, extract the ZIP file contents using an archive tool like 7-Zip or WinRAR.
5. The ZIP will contain the msgstore database file and a media folder with your chat attachments.
6. To view chats, you can use a SQLite browser like DB Browser for SQLite. Open the msgstore.db file and browse the messages table to see your extracted chats.
7. To extract and save media files, copy them out of the media folder in the extracted ZIP contents.
So with these steps, you can access your chat history, media files and everything else in your WhatsApp backups on Android devices.
How to Extract Chats from ZIP on iPhone
Here are the steps to extract WhatsApp chats on your iPhone:
1. Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes.
2. Under Backups, select to back up your device to this computer.
3. After the backup completes, locate the backup files. On Windows, go to:\\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
On Mac, go to: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
4. Locate the oldest backup folder. Copy this folder to your desktop.
5. Download and install a utility like iBackup Extractor or iBackup Viewer.
6. Open the app and select the backup folder you copied. Select to decrypt and rebuild the backup.
7. Once rebuilt, the app will list out all the apps and data in the backup. Navigate to the WhatsApp or ChatStorage.sqlite file.
8. Save or export the WhatsApp messages and media files you need to your computer.
This will let you browse and extract the required chats from your iPhone WhatsApp backups. Do note that iPhone backups are incremental, so you’ll need the oldest backup that contains all your chats.
How to View Extracted Chats
Once you’ve extracted the WhatsApp backups, here are some ways you can view and access the chats:
– **Use a SQLite browser app** – Install an app like DB Browser for SQLite on your computer. Import the msgstore.db file and browse the messages table to view your extracted chats.
– **Convert to PDF** – Use a converter app to save your SQLite database as a PDF document that you can view, print or search. Apps like SQLite to PDF Converter can batch export tables to PDF.
– **Import to WhatsApp** – On Android you can replace your current WhatsApp msgstore.db file with the extracted database file to load the chats. On iPhone, use chat backup tools to import the database back into WhatsApp.
– **View media files** – Use your computer’s file explorer to access the exported images, videos and audio files from the WhatsApp media folder in the backup.
– **Cloud drive apps** – Upload the backup files to cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox. The apps provide preview for certain file types like images.
So those are some ways to access, view and share your extracted WhatsApp chats from the ZIP backup files. The easiest options are using a database browser tool or converting the DB to PDF.
Troubleshooting Extraction Issues
Here are some common issues faced when trying to extract WhatsApp backups and how to resolve them:
**Problem:** Can’t find backups on Android device.
**Solution:** WhatsApp backups may be saved on external SD card. Connect SD card to PC and check for backup files.
**Problem:** Backup ZIP is encrypted, can’t extract chats.
**Solution:** Make sure you are using the correct encryption key. On Android check key in WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Chat Backup.
**Problem:** iPhone says the WhatsApp backup file is corrupted.
**Solution:** Try extracting an older backup as the latest one may be incomplete. Use a tool like iMazing to force a fresh chat backup.
**Problem:** Media files are missing from extracted chats.
**Solution:** Check if media folder was properly extracted from the ZIP. WhatsApp may also delete older media periodically.
**Problem:** Chats extracted but messages show as blank.
**Solution:** The msgstore file may be corrupted. Try extracting chats from an older backup ZIP file on your device or cloud.
So in summary, common issues involve dealing with encryption, corrupted files or incomplete backups. You can resolve them by trying alternate backup sources and using the right tools and encryption keys.
Conclusion
Extracting WhatsApp chats from local ZIP backups lets you:
– Free up space on your phone by storing older chats externally.
– Preserve important chat history even if you lose your phone.
– Recover accidentally deleted conversations by restoring from backup.
– Export chats to view offline and share conversations.
– Troubleshoot issues by diagnosing problems from backup files.
The key steps are:
1. Locate the latest WhatsApp backup ZIP file on your phone storage or iCloud.
2. Use a file archiver to extract the ZIP contents to your computer.
3. The ZIP contains the msgstore database and media files.
4. View extracted chats using a SQLite browser or convert to PDF.
5. For iPhone backups, use a dedicated iOS backup tool to decrypt and rebuild chats.
So with the right tools and techniques, you can successfully extract your chat history and media from WhatsApp backups for various purposes. Just make sure to use the proper decryption keys and watch out for corrupted files.
References
| 1. | WhatsApp FAQ – Manage your storage. https://faq.whatsapp.com/android/storage-and-data/about-storage-management/?lang=en |
| 2. | Restore WhatsApp backup files on Android. https://www.whatsapp.com/android/faq/en/android- backups |
| 3. | iPhone Backup Extractor – Extract from iTunes. https://www.iphonebackupextractor.com/guides/iphone-itunes-backup-files |
| 4. | View SQLite database files on Mac and Windows. https://www.sqlite.org/cvstrac/wiki?p=ManagementTools |