WhatsApp chat backup on Android stuck at 100%. Here’s what you need to do

WhatsApp automatically backs up chat history at a designated time every day. It is not yet clear why chat backups get stuck, but it can lead to unwanted headache for users. This bug has been around for at least one year and can even lead to loss of entire chat history. However, a Reddit user has found fix to this troublesome issue, reports WABetaInfo.

Also Read: WhatsApp adds this new feature on iOS for disappearing messages. See details

According to the solution suggested by Redditor torojet, users need to follow the following steps to remedy frozen chat backups:

Step 1: Visit Google Drive and unlink your WhatsApp account. For this visit https://drive.google.com, log into your Google Account, then open Settings > Manage Apps > WhatsApp Messenger (or WhatsApp Business) > Options > Disconnect from Drive. You chat backups will be safe if they are saved on your device.

Step 2: Uninstall WhatsApp from your phone.

Step 3: Using a file manager, go to “/user/Android/Media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Databases”. Alternatively, you can find chat databases on “WhatsApp/Databases” or “/user/WhatsApp/Databases” if the above path does not exist. Select the most recent entry in the folder and rename it to “msgstore.db”, leaving the .crypt extension unchanged. For example, if the the extension reads “.crypt12″, then rename the file to “msgstore.db.crypt12″ 

Step 4: Install WhatsApp again on your phone and log in using the same phone number.

Step 5: Once logged in, WhatsApp will try to find the latest database to restore the chat history. Since you have unlinked WhatsApp from Google Drive, the application will use the local backup that you have renamed.

Step 6: Once the chat history is restored using the local backup, you can once again link your WhatsApp to Google Drive for saving chat history in future.

WhatsApp has also enabled end-to-end encryption for chat backups on beta users on Android, and even rolled out the feature for iOS beta users in recent updates. Users will get the option to select a password or 64-digit encryption key to protect their chat history from unauthorised access. Be careful while using this feature, as WhatsApp will not be able to restore your chat backup if the password or encryption key is lost.