WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps with over 2 billion users worldwide. At some point, you may need to reinstall WhatsApp on your phone when switching devices, upgrading your OS, or troubleshooting issues. While reinstalling the app is simple, there are some things you should do beforehand to ensure your data and chats are preserved.
Back Up Your Chats
The most important thing to do before reinstalling WhatsApp is to back up your chats and media. This will save your entire WhatsApp account including messages, photos, videos, voice messages, call logs, contacts and more. There are two ways to back up your WhatsApp data:
- Google Drive backup – WhatsApp allows you to backup your chats to Google Drive. Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Backup and select ‘Back Up to Google Drive’. You can choose to backup manually or schedule regular daily backups.
- Local backup – You can also backup WhatsApp to your device’s local storage. Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Backup and select ‘Back Up to Local Storage’. This will save your backup as an encrypted file on your phone’s storage.
Ideally, you should use both Google Drive and local backup options regularly to ensure your WhatsApp data stays protected in multiple places. The app allows you to include videos and media in Google Drive backups for free up to a limit of 2GB. Backing up over WiFi instead of cellular data can help avoid data charges.
Transfer Chat History
If you are moving from one Android device to another, you can transfer your chat history in addition to backup. WhatsApp has an in-built feature to migrate your chats.
- On your old phone, update to the latest version of WhatsApp.
- Open WhatsApp and go to Settings > Chats > Chat History > Export Chat History.
- This will export your chat history as a ZIP file to your phone’s local storage.
- Copy this ZIP file to your new Android phone using file transfer or cloud storage.
- Install the latest WhatsApp version on your new phone.
- Open WhatsApp, verify your number, and tap Restore when prompted.
- Select the chat history ZIP file from your phone storage to import.
Your chat history including text messages, media, and calls will be transferred to the new phone. Note that you can only migrate chats across Android devices, not from iOS to Android or vice versa.
Backup Photos/Videos
WhatsApp media like photos, videos, GIFs, voice messages and documents are included in your chat backups. But it’s a good idea to additionally export and save important media outside WhatsApp as well. Here are two ways to backup your WhatsApp media:
- Google Photos – Open WhatsApp, go to any chat, tap on the attachment icon, select Media and tap Export. Choose Export to Google Photos to save all media to your Google Photos library.
- Phone Gallery – In WhatsApp, open Settings > Chats > Media Visibility. Toggle on ‘Show Media in Gallery’ so all WhatsApp media gets saved to your phone’s local storage gallery.
Storing your WhatsApp media in Google Photos or your local gallery ensures you have copies outside of WhatsApp itself. You can then upload or transfer these elsewhere as needed.
Note Down Important Info
Before reinstalling WhatsApp, take a minute to note down some key information that you may need to re-access your account:
- Your WhatsApp phone number
- Last backup dates for Google Drive and local storage
- Email address associated with your Google account used for Drive backup
- Passcode/password if you have enabled two-step verification
Having these details handy will make it easier to verify your number, restore backups and enable security features when reinstalling the app.
Log Out Properly
Before uninstalling WhatsApp, you should properly log out from the app. This ensures all your data is cleared from the device so your account details are not vulnerable if others access your phone. To log out:
- Open WhatsApp > Settings > Account > Log Out
- Tap Log Out again in the confirmation prompt
This will securely log you out and remove your account details from the device. If you just uninstall without logging out, your information may still be accessible.
Uninstall the App
Once you’ve logged out, you can go ahead and uninstall WhatsApp from your old phone:
- On Android: Open your phone’s Settings app > Apps > WhatsApp > Uninstall
- On iPhone: Hold your finger on the WhatsApp icon until icons start wiggling > Tap the X icon to delete
Uninstalling the app will remove the software but will not delete your chat history or backups as those are saved externally. You are now ready to reinstall!
Reinstall WhatsApp
After uninstalling the app and setting up your backups, you can now reinstall WhatsApp on your device:
- On Android: Open the Play Store, search for WhatsApp, tap Install and Accept to reinstall.
- On iPhone: Open the App Store, search for WhatsApp, tap Get and Install to download again.
The latest version will be installed. When opening the app, you will be prompted to verify your phone number.
Verify Your Number
To access your WhatsApp account, you will need to verify your phone number after reinstalling the app:
- Enter your phone number on the verification screen.
- Tap Next and you will receive an SMS with a 6-digit verification code.
- Enter this code to verify your device.
This activates your account on the reinstalled WhatsApp on your phone.
Restore Chats & Data
Once verified, WhatsApp should automatically detect your Google Drive or local backup and ask if you want to restore:
- Tap Restore to retrieve your chat history, media, settings etc.
- WhatsApp will recreate your account using the backup file.
- If needed, use your chat history ZIP file to migrate messages from another Android device.
Restoring from your backup will bring back all your old WhatsApp data so you can continue where you left off! Be patient as it may take some time for large backups to restore.
Change Number, Reverify
If your phone number has changed, WhatsApp will not be able to verify your old number. In this case:
- Tap Change Number when asked during verification.
- Enter your new phone number and tap Next.
- Provide your old number when prompted.
- Verify the new number via SMS code.
- Restore your backup using Google Drive or local file.
This will link your new phone number to your old WhatsApp account and messages.
Enable Security Options
Once your account is restored, take a moment to re-enable important security options:
- Set up two-step verification for added security.
- Update privacy settings like last seen, profile photo visibility etc.
- Turn on chat backup reminders so you don’t forget.
- Change your privacy password if you use one.
Enabling these settings as needed will keep your WhatsApp account safe.
Update Your Info
Since you are logging in after some time, take the opportunity to update your WhatsApp profile:
- Set a new profile photo if needed.
- Update your About status.
- Modify your notification settings.
- Change chat wallpaper or theme color.
Updating these details will give your profile a fresh new look!
Inform Contacts
Let your WhatsApp contacts know that you have reinstalled the app to avoid confusion:
- Post a status update saying you are back on WhatsApp.
- Inform chat groups that you reinstalled the app.
- Directly message close contacts and let them know.
This prevents contacts from worrying if you suddenly go incommunicado during the reinstallation process.
Review Data Usage
Take the chance to review WhatsApp’s data usage and adjust settings to optimize it:
- Check Settings > Storage Usage to see media consumption.
- Enable low data usage mode to reduce data transfers.
- Disable auto-download of media when on cellular data.
- Adjust video upload quality as per your needs.
Optimizing these settings will ensure WhatsApp does not consume too much cellular data.
Troubleshoot Issues
In case you face any issues restoring your chats or transfers, here are some troubleshooting tips:
- Check your internet connection is stable during restore.
- Move your backup from SD card to internal storage if restore fails.
- Clear WhatsApp cache and local data after uninstalling.
- Force close and restart the app between uninstall and reinstall.
- Contact WhatsApp support if problems persist.
Following these steps can help identify and fix various technical issues during reinstallation.
Conclusion
Reinstalling WhatsApp is straightforward if you correctly back up your data beforehand. The key steps are:
- Create Google Drive and local backups.
- Note down important info like number, passwords etc.
- Log out and uninstall the app.
- Reinstall WhatsApp.
- Verify your number.
- Restore chats and media from backup.
- Enable security options.
- Inform your contacts.
Following this process will ensure your WhatsApp account and data is preserved when reinstalling the app. Backup regularly to avoid losing important chats and media.