Help with restoring WhatsApp messages from old to new phone?

[Sim8]

Restoring from old Samsung Note 3 (Android 5) to new Moto G7 (Android 10)

Been battling with this for several days with no joy:

Can't get a backup file to successfully save to Google Drive from the Note 3.
- I think that's because Android 5 is too old?
- Have been able to save chat documents and pics individually to Google Drive, but WhatsApp on new G7 says there are no files it recognises.

I'm aware that WhatsApp on the new G7 needs to be installed to pick up backups.
- Tried reinstalling so may times now, WhatsApp stopped sending me codes by text.

Tried manually putting files into WhatsApp 'Databases' folder before installing.
- Bluetooth transfer to Downloads and then moving to 'Databases', but not recognising any of the files I'm putting in there.

Is it just the case that Android 5 to 10 means no method will work?
Or are there any other suggestions of what I can try?

Thanks in advance for any help

Si

 

[hallux]

Tried manually putting files into WhatsApp 'Databases' folder before installing.

When you say this, are you saying you're doing a local backup and trying to put that file into that folder in an effort to get it to be seen on the new phone?

Do you have a MicroSD card you can use for this? If you do a local backup to a MicroSD card on the old phone you should be able to put that microSD card into the new phone and restore the backup - https://faq.whatsapp.com/android/chats/how-to-restore-your-chat-history/

 

[Sim8]

Thanks again, @hallux.

When you say this, are you saying you're doing a local backup and trying to put that file into that folder in an effort to get it to be seen on the new phone?

Yes. I have made a backup file using WhatsApp, but my main problem is that I've no idea what it's called or where it's stored - there are several folders in several places relating to WhatsApp, but in my file manager I can't see file sizes to estimate which might be the right one.

Files I've identified on the old phone and tried:
WhatsApp 'Backups' directory: chatsettingsbackup.db.crypt1
WhatsApp 'Databases' directory: msgstore-2020-...[truncated?]18.1.db.crypt12

Google Drive [whole load of files like]: WhatsApp Chat with [name of contact].txt

On my new phone I've tried these files in the WhatsApp directories 'Databases' and 'Backups' but WhatsApp doesn't pick anything up during the installation process.

No working SD card (corrupted). Already had and read the link you posted, but that hasn't helped - even ensured the 'Can’t create or restore a Google Drive backup' click through trouble shooting checks have all been done.

 

[hallux]

One part of your problem may be that you never get your new phone registered on Whatsapp (it reads as though you're having trouble with this).

How are you checking to see if the backup to Drive is successful? It doesn't back up into your main Drive folder, there's a specific backups section.

 

[Sim8]

No problem registering the new phone on WhatsApp.

On the old phone, in WhatsApp the Settings section > Chats > Chat Backup > Last Backup > Backup [Button] it says I've got a recent 34 MB file backed up. In the section below, are the Google Drive details with everything filled in and looking correct.

I have never identified the 34MB backup file (IF it is just one file?) or its location on the old phone or on Google Drive, and I think that's the key. I don't have any Google Drive subfolders and most of the files are just relating to me trying to get WhatsApp chats/call history transferred to the app on the new phone. None of those files are 34MB - nothing over 1MB, in fact.

 

[hallux]

Open the Google Drive app, tap the 3-line menu and look for the Backups section. In there should be a backup file. If you open drive.google.com in a browser on your computer you should see in the top right a link to the backups section.

In theory, if the backup is done right, when you sign in to Whatsapp using the same phone number on a phone using the same Google account the app should see the backup when you go to try to restore it. I believe it might even prompt you to restore automatically.

 

[Sim8]

Aha! Thanks, @hallux, that's the first step forward I've taken in days and I can see a WhatsApp backup file (16th July) with a name (mostly numbers) I've not seen before. You recognised that I've hardly ever used Google Drive, so thanks for pointing me to the Backups.

Yep, signing in with the same phone number using the same Google account on my new phone, but the app is just not seeing it for some reason during the restore phase of initial setup phase. Obviously I'm giving full access to everything WhatsApp asks for and I can see my Google Account named, but greyed out so I can't select it.

I keep feeling like something is going wrong with the backup file when it is saved to Google Drive from my old phone via WhatsApp. But I'll keep plugging away and try a few new things now I know the file exists and what its name is.

Via Chrome in my Chromebook, I can't see the link to the Backups section in the top right or anywhere else. What does it look like?