Whatsapp creates an automatic backup of conversations on its servers and does it every day.To check the date of the last save and to renew it, you can go to the settings of chats and calls and tap on the Last backup.
This function, which cannot be deactivated, is very useful when changing smartphones, to automatically retrieve past conversations and all messages.
To save Whatsapp chats on Android and on iPhone, manually, and having them on a text file instead you have to use a different method. To begin with, in the chat settings of the Whatsapp app on Android and iPhone, there is the possibility to do the backup of all conversations on Google Drive.
This solves every problem to retrieve chats at any time and to have a copy saved on your computer, via Google Drive synchronization.
To make sure it works, go to Settings> Chat> Chat Backup to activate, on the Google account used for the Android phone, the complete chat backup in Drive. On the iPhone, you can’t save the Whatsapp chat locally or even extract it or transfer it.
But what’s more about the iPhone than the Android smartphone is the backup of conversations in iCloud.
In the chat settings, you can choose whether to save conversations every day, once a week or once a month or even manually.
Conversations can then be restored using the same iCloud account, in case you need to recover them.
The various chats can also be sent via email by swiping your finger from right to left on the title of a conversation, then going to the More button to bring up the menu that includes the button to send it via email.On Android, backups are saved in local files with names similar to this: msgstore-2015-11-05.1.db.crypt8 where in the middle is the date.
These files are included in the folder Whatsapp / Databases and can be viewed, managed and moved to another location via an app like ES File Manager.
Conversation files are encrypted and not readable with computer programs or other apps that are not Whatsapp.
Still on Android, waiting for backup on Google Drive, there is also another way to save Whatsapp chats directly on the PC.
The app to be installed is BitTorrent Sync, of which I had already spoken in the past.
Sync is an application that allows you to transfer data synchronization from one device to another via a peer to peer network and an internet connection, without going through a central server.
The server does our computer on which you need to install the BitTorrent Sync program.
Open the folder Whatsapp and then tap the choose folder button.
Once done, you can send to other devices that folder containing all Whatsapp conversations including photos via email or with copy and paste to the PC.
From the program window on the PC, click on the gear at the top right and then up Manual connection.
Paste the link generated by the phone and wait for the Whatsapp folder to be copied to your computer.
When the window appears asking where to save the Whatsapp folder, you can choose your own favorite cloud service, for example, Dropbox, Google Drive or Onedrive.
A notification will appear on the phone to accept the transfer and you’re done.
In addition to conversations within Database, Whatsapp also includes the folder Average containing videos, photos, and audio recordings.
Synchronization of the Whatsapp folder will now take place, via Sync, in the cloud or only on the PC, automatically.
We have seen, in another article, how to restore and recover Whatsapp messages and history.
Keep in mind that the restoration of Whatsapp conversations must always be done on your account.
If you want to save a Whatsapp conversation legibly, to share it with a friend or to keep it, on Android, as on iPhone, you can send it via email to yourself.
To do this, on Android, open a chat, press on the top right button and then on Other to find the option of Send chat via Email.
Even without sending it, if you use Gmail you can save it as a draft and then find it on Gmail from your computer.
The chat, in this case, can be read as a TXT text file while the photos are JPG files.