Losing a smartphone can be stressful. It holds all the important data including photos, saved documents, UPI accounts, WhatsApp chats, and more. While getting a new phone may solve the hardware issue, recovering data like photos or chats can be a daunting task. In particular, to recover WhatsApp chat as an end-to-end encryption system to save all the users’ conversations. However, there are several ways to recover Whatsapp chats if your smartphone gets stolen.
Here’s a guide on what to do and how to recover your WhatsApp chats on another phone if your smartphone, be it Android or iPhone, gets stolen.
Get a new SIM with the same phone number
First thing first, as soon as your phone gets stolen, go to your mobile network provider and ask them to block your SIM card. Locking the SIM card will restrict the thief or anyone else from using its services on any other phone.
For retrieving WhatsApp too, locking the SIM card is important as WhatsApp asks for verification via SMS to verify your account on the new phone. After locking the SIM, ask your network provider to issue you a new SIM with the same phone number. This way you will be able to use the network service linked to your SIM card again.
After you get the new SIM, put that in the new phone and set up your device. Ensure you set up your iPhone with the same Apple ID you used in your stolen phone. And in case you were using an Android phone make sure you log in to
your Google ID to access Google Drive.
If you used to backup your WhatsApp chats regularly in your iCloud and Google Drive, you will be easily able to retrieve all your saved WhatsApp chats.
How to recover WhatsApp chat from iCloud
- Install WhatsApp on your new phone.
- Open the app and set it up.
- You will need to verify your phone number and grant permission for WhatsApp to access your contacts, photos, and other data.
- Next WhatsApp will scan for backups in your iCloud and will prompt you to restore your chat history from the saved backup.
- Follow the on-screen instructions and select the iCloud backup you want to restore from.
- WhatsApp will then restore your chats from the selected iCloud backup.
- The process may take time depending on the size of the backup file.
- Once the backup is retrieved, WhatsApp will restore all your chats and media to your new phone.
How to recover WhatsApp chat from Google Drive
On your Android device:
- Install WhatsApp from Google Play Store.
- Open the WhatsApp app and start the setup process.
- When asked for permission, permit to check for backup in your Google Drive.
- When prompted, start the backup retrieval process.
- set it up.
- Once the process is completed, WhatsApp will restore all your chats and media to your new phone.
If you are not able to see the backup, you can also check for saved backup manually by going to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Backup and checking for available backup. It is also advisable to back up your WhatsApp every day so that you can easily retrieve it in your new phone if you want to change the device or the device gets stolen.
Once WhatsApp is started in your new phone, the App will automatically deactivate from your older phone, securing your WhatsApp data.
Meanwhile, if you don’t have your backup saved in your Google Drive or iCloud but a copy is saved in Email, here’s a process to retrieve it.
How to Recover WhatsApp chat from a backup saved in Email
- Open your email and locate the email containing the WhatsApp backup file.
- Download the backup file.
- Open WhatsApp on your device and go to “Settings” > “Chats” > “Chat Backup”.
- Tap “Restore” to start the restoration process.
- Select the backup file you downloaded from your email and tap “Restore”.
- Wait for the restoration process to complete. This may take some time depending on the size of your backup file and your internet connection.
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