WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps, used by over 2 billion people worldwide. It allows users to send messages, photos, videos, documents, voice messages and make calls over the internet. All your WhatsApp data like chats, media files etc. is stored locally on your device. But sometimes users are unable to find the WhatsApp folder containing all this data in their phone’s internal storage or file manager.
Where is WhatsApp data stored?
On Android devices, WhatsApp stores all your data in the internal storage under the folder – /sdcard/WhatsApp. So if your phone has 32GB internal storage, you will find the WhatsApp folder in that drive. On iOS devices like iPhones, the WhatsApp data is stored in the app’s private container which is inaccessible to users.
So in simple words, on Android you will find a dedicated WhatsApp folder and on iOS, you won’t be able to access the WhatsApp data folder directly.
Why can’t I see the WhatsApp folder on my Android phone?
Even though WhatsApp stores your data in the internal storage on Android phones, there are a few reasons why you may not be able to view or find this folder in your file manager or phone storage:
- Your phone doesn’t have an in-built file manager app – Some Android phones like the Pixel series don’t come with a pre-installed file manager app which allows you to browse all folders on your device. So you won’t be able to find or view the WhatsApp folder if you don’t have a file manager.
- Restricted folder access – In some phones, the manufacturer restricts access to certain folders or files including the WhatsApp folder. So even if you have a file manager, you can’t access the folder due to this restriction.
- Hidden folders – The WhatsApp folder might be hidden and that’s why you can’t view it. You need to enable ‘Show hidden files’ in your file manager settings to make the folder visible.
- Wrong location – In very rare cases, WhatsApp might have stored your data in a different location than the usual WhatsApp folder. So you can’t find it where it’s expected to be there.
- File manager glitch – Sometimes a bug or glitch in the file manager app can also cause the WhatsApp folder to not show up.
- App crashing – If WhatsApp keeps crashing on your phone before fully loading, the app data may not have synced properly including the media folders. So the folder might be missing.
How to find and view the WhatsApp folder on Android?
If you are unable to view or access the WhatsApp folder on your Android device, here are some tips that can help:
- Install a file manager app from the Play Store if your phone doesn’t have a pre-installed one. A good free file manager app is File Manager by Xiaomi or Solid Explorer.
- In the file manager, go to the phone storage location, which is usually the sdcard or internal storage folder.
- If you still can’t find the WhatsApp folder here, enable the setting to view hidden files and folders in your file manager.
- If hidden folders are already enabled, search for WhatsApp folder using search option in the file manager.
- Update to latest WhatsApp version if your app was crashing earlier leading to missing folder.
- Check permission settings and grant storage access permission to WhatsApp if disabled.
- Clear WhatsApp data and cache from App settings and restore backup to sync WhatsApp files again.
- Try a different file manager app as well in case of glitch in the current app.
- Use a computer and Android data recovery software to scan phone storage to find WhatsApp folder.
What to do if you still can’t find the folder?
In rare cases even after trying the above options, you may be unable to find or access the WhatsApp folder in your Android phone’s storage due to system issues or file permissions. Here is what you can do in such a situation:
- Restart your phone
- Check if any apps have access to the WhatsApp folder and revoke it
- Clear data for file manager app and try again
- Try connecting phone to PC to directly access storage folders
- Reset app preferences in phone settings
- Contact WhatsApp support for help
- Factory reset phone if nothing else works
Reasons why you can’t see WhatsApp folder on iPhone
On iPhones and iOS devices, you won’t find a visible WhatsApp folder in your phone’s storage or Files app. This is because of the following reasons:
- iOS sandboxing – Apps are restricted to their own data container
- File system differences in iOS compared to Android
- Lack of file manager app on iOS
- WhatsApp encrypts chat database on iOS devices
- Restricted access to app containers on iOS
So unlike Android, apps on iOS don’t have full access to a shared storage partition. Each app like WhatsApp has its own private container for data which cannot be accessed directly by users. That’s why the WhatsApp folder is hidden and you are unable to view it on your iPhone.
How to access WhatsApp data on iPhone?
Even though you can’t directly access the WhatsApp database and files on an iPhone, there are some indirect ways to view your WhatsApp data:
- Save WhatsApp photos & videos to your Photos app
- Email or export conversations as text files
- Use Mac FoneLab iOS Toolkit to extract WhatsApp data from your iPhone to a computer
- Take backups on iCloud and Google Drive which save your WhatsApp data
- Jailbreak your iPhone to access root file system (not recommended)
While you can’t directly access the WhatsApp folder on an iPhone, you do have options to save your important data like photos, videos, chats to other locations. WhatsApp also provides tools to export chats and take backups on the cloud storage linked to your Apple ID.
Common WhatsApp folder & files related issues
Apart from not being able to find or view the WhatsApp folder, some other common issues faced by users related to WhatsApp data storage include:
- Huge size of WhatsApp folder eating up phone storage
- Lost or deleted WhatsApp folder
- Unable to backup large WhatsApp data
- WhatsApp media not visible in phone gallery
- Unable to restore WhatsApp backup from Google Drive
- WhatsApp crashing due to full storage
Most of these issues can be fixed by freeing up space, syncing WhatsApp media files with phone storage, taking timely backups or disabling videos auto-download in WhatsApp settings.
Conclusion
To summarize, WhatsApp data is stored in internal phone storage on Android under the WhatsApp folder. But users are often unable to view or find this folder due to various reasons like file manager issues, hidden files, OS restrictions etc. On iOS devices like iPhones, the WhatsApp database is inaccessible directly due to sandboxing limitations. Though you can still export WhatsApp chats or save media to your phone storage on iPhone. By following the right troubleshooting steps and using file manager apps, you can access the WhatsApp folder easily on Android. On iOS, you can retrieve your WhatsApp data from iCloud or Google Drive backups taken from the app.