Transferring your WhatsApp data to a new device can be a pain — particularly if you’re switching from Android to another platform, or vice-versa. But WhatsApp looks set to make it a whole lot easier by giving users the ability to backup their messages to Google Drive.

One member of the WhatsApp translation group, which helps translate WhatsApp into other languages, has been tasked with a bunch of strings related to backing up WhatsApp data to Google Drive.

The strings suggest that users will be able to see when they last backed up to Google Drive and delete backups if they want to, and that we’ll have the ability to save pictures as well as messages. However, it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to backup videos.

It seems users will then get the opportunity to restore from a Google Drive backup when setting up WhatsApp on a new device, but if they choose not to, the backup is automatically deleted — though that could change.

 

WhatsApp does give Android users the option to backup their data to an SD card, but it’s not exactly a simple process. iOS users can now backup to iCloud, too. But it’s difficult to transfer that data between both platforms — and all the others available.

I use WhatsApp on both Android and iOS, and I’ve learned to live with losing my data every time I switch. Backing it up is just more hassle than it’s worth.

But having the ability to backup to Google Drive, then access that backup on almost any other platform, would make the process incredibly simple.

• SourceDroidApp
• ViaAndroid Police