WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps with over 2 billion users worldwide. It allows users to easily communicate with friends, family and even businesses. One of the key features of WhatsApp is the ability to backup chats which provides an extra layer of protection against losing messages.
Backups allow you to restore your chat history if you lose your phone or switch to a new device. By default, WhatsApp backups chats daily when the app is open and connected to WiFi. The backups are saved to your phone’s internal storage or Google Drive if you have it enabled.
However, many users encounter issues where WhatsApp is unable to complete the backup even when there is apparently enough free storage space. There are a few reasons why this could happen.
Insufficient storage space
The most common reason for backup failures is not having enough free storage space on your phone. WhatsApp requires up to 1.5GB of free space for a proper backup. The backup size also grows over time as more chats and media gets accumulated.
Although you may see free space in your phone’s Settings, the local WhatsApp storage folder could be full. WhatsApp backups use the phone’s internal storage which can get cluttered with cached data, logs and other files over time.
To check the actual free space available for WhatsApp, go to WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Chat Backup. Here you will see a message if the backup has failed due to insufficient space. Try freeing up storage space on your phone and then initiate the backup again.
Ways to free up space for WhatsApp backup:
- Delete large files and media using your phone’s file manager
- Remove unused apps
- Clear cached data and temporary files
- Transfer photos/videos to cloud storage or computer
- Delete messages and media taking up space in WhatsApp
Google Drive quota full
If you have enabled WhatsApp chat backups to Google Drive, then another reason for backup failures could be exceeding your Drive storage quota.
WhatsApp backups to Google Drive don’t count towards your Google storage. A separate quota of up to 2GB is allocated for WhatsApp backups depending on your Drive subscription.
If this quota fills up, then WhatsApp cannot backup your chats to Drive and it will fail. You need to delete older backups and free up space to resolve this.
To manage your WhatsApp backup storage on Google Drive:
- Open Google Drive on your phone
- Go to Settings (3 line menu) > Backups
- Here you will see the storage used by WhatsApp backup
- Tap Manage Backups to delete old backups and free up space
Connection issues
For backups to complete successfully, your phone needs to maintain a stable internet connection throughout the process. Backup failures can occur if the connection drops midway.
Some things you can try to troubleshoot connection related backup issues:
- Switch to a stable WiFi network
- Disable battery optimizations for WhatsApp so it’s not closed in the background
- Restart your phone and router if facing intermittent connectivity problems
- Backup overnight when phone usage is less to avoid connectivity fluctuations
Corrupt backup file
In some cases, the backup file on your phone or Google Drive may have become corrupted. This prevents WhatsApp from adding new backups.
If this occurs, you will need to delete the existing backup and restart fresh. Here’s how to delete and reset WhatsApp backup:
- On WhatsApp, go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup
- Tap on Back Up to Drive and Remove Account
- Go to Google Drive and delete all WhatsApp backup files
- Force close WhatsApp and clear app data
- Re-login and start a fresh backup – this should resolve the corruption issue
Issues with Google account
If backing up to Google Drive, make sure your Google account is working fine. Sign out and log back in to your Google account connected to the phone.
Also ensure that your Google account has enough storage space and allows backup from WhatsApp. Go to Google Drive > Settings > Manage Apps > WhatsApp to check this.
Conflict with security apps
Some third party security, antivirus and app lock apps can block WhatsApp from completing a proper backup. Try disabling such apps temporarily and check if that resolves the backup failure issue.
WhatsApp version outdated
Having an outdated version of WhatsApp can also lead to backup problems due to compatibility issues. Make sure you are running the latest version of WhatsApp by checking for updates on Play Store.
Try clearing app data
If none of the above fixes work, try clearing all app data for WhatsApp to eliminate any corrupted files or settings.
Go to Phone Settings > Apps > WhatsApp > Storage > Clear Data. This will reset WhatsApp and delete all previous backups so you can start fresh.
Use a different backup frequency
If daily backups are failing, you can try changing the backup frequency to weekly in WhatsApp settings. This reduces load on your phone memory and internet resources.
Check for app bugs
In rare cases, a software bug in the WhatsApp app may be preventing successful backups. Check if the issue is widespread by looking up on WhatsApp support forums and downdetector. If its a bug, you will have to wait for WhatsApp to release a stability update.
Contact WhatsApp support
If all the above tips don’t help resolve your backup issues, get in touch with WhatsApp support for further help. Describe your problem in detail and they may be able to identify and troubleshoot obscure backup problems.
Conclusion
To summarize, WhatsApp backup failures despite having enough storage can occur due to various reasons like insufficient space, Google Drive quota, connection drops, corrupt files or app conflicts. Following the troubleshooting steps outlined above should help resolve most backup issues and get your chat history safely backed up again.