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User profile for user: Lao Bo
Lao Bo Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

iCloud trouble : 5 years of WhatsApp chat is gone !

iPhone 12 mini. iOS 16.5.

I live in China, where iCloud sometimes gives trouble. So I don't use it for everything, and I backup my mobile onto my Mac. Which I did a few days ago, just before the latest iOS update.


A couple of days ago, for some repair to my iPhone, I add to sign out and in of my Apple account a couple of times.


I wasn't even aware that my WhatsApp info wasn't stored on my phone. And I maybe should have turned on my vpn a couple of time to allow for iCloud WhatsApp information to sync with my phone. In China, you need a vpn to use WhatsApp.


Now, I got all the phone information back, including all my 1'400 Notes which were sync on iCloud. But the last 5 years of WhatsApp chat is missing... Quantitatively, this is not so much because I only use WhatsApp with friends abroad, but there are quite a few chats in there that it hurts to lose.


Does someone see a way to get this information back ?


Many many thanks in advance ! 🙏

Gerard


iPhone 12 mini, iOS 16

Posted on Jun 4, 2023 7:54 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Lao Bo
Lao Bo Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Posted on Jun 5, 2023 5:47 AM

Thanks again muguy ! But investigating further, I now found that for iPhone, WhatsApp settings only allow backup through iCloud :


"iPhone :

How to back up to iCloud


You can back up and restore your WhatsApp chat history with iCloud.

Note:

  • WhatsApp chat histories aren't stored on our servers.
  • Media and messages you back up aren't protected by WhatsApp end-to-end encrypted backup.
  • We can't retrieve any deleted messages for you.

Back up to iCloud


Manual backup

You can make a manual backup of your chats at any time.

Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > Back Up Now.


Automatic backup

You can enable automatic, scheduled backups by tapping Auto Backup and choosing your backup frequency."

------

I was totally ignorant of this. If I still have part of my WhatsApp chat on my phone, it's because it was once, 4.5 years ago manually backed up on iCloud. I can't even remember doing it. Looks like the rest is gone, unless I can get some more important bilateral discussions exported back to me from my interlocutors.


Cheers

Gerard


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Lao Bo
Lao Bo Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Jun 5, 2023 5:47 AM in response to muguy

Thanks again muguy ! But investigating further, I now found that for iPhone, WhatsApp settings only allow backup through iCloud :


"iPhone :

How to back up to iCloud


You can back up and restore your WhatsApp chat history with iCloud.

Note:

  • WhatsApp chat histories aren't stored on our servers.
  • Media and messages you back up aren't protected by WhatsApp end-to-end encrypted backup.
  • We can't retrieve any deleted messages for you.

Back up to iCloud


Manual backup

You can make a manual backup of your chats at any time.

Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > Back Up Now.


Automatic backup

You can enable automatic, scheduled backups by tapping Auto Backup and choosing your backup frequency."

------

I was totally ignorant of this. If I still have part of my WhatsApp chat on my phone, it's because it was once, 4.5 years ago manually backed up on iCloud. I can't even remember doing it. Looks like the rest is gone, unless I can get some more important bilateral discussions exported back to me from my interlocutors.


Cheers

Gerard


Reply

iCloud trouble : 5 years of WhatsApp chat is gone !

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