Android Magazine 58 - 2015 UK

Tu t o r i a l s

Back up your WhatsApps

to Google Drive

Store y tant messaging

cha ive to

ke tions safe

WhatsApp Messenger is the most

downloaded messaging app on the Google

Play store with over one billion downloads,

so it’s a little surprising that it’s taken until

now for the app to offer a backup service for

its users’ messages.

WhatsApp can now store your message

threadsonGoogleDrive so if your account is

deleted or your phone is lost, you can restore

ll of your messages with just a few clicks.

The ser v ice should be rolling out to all

phones soon, but there is a way to gain early

access to this feature by downloading the

WhatsApp APK. This will even work if you’ve

already got WhatsApp downloaded, so you

don’t need to worr y about deleting the app

and reinstalling it. You will then have peace

of mind that you won’t lose all of your

conversations if something goes wrong with

your phone or account.

Tap the triple-dot menu in the corner of the

app or the menu button if you are running a

version of Android that is older than 5.0 Lollipop.

Tap on the Settings menu and this will bring up a

range of submenus from where you need to tap

Chats and calls.

Enter WhatsApp settings

5

Pull down the Quick Settings menu and tap

thecog.ScrolldownuntilyouseeSecurityandtap

onthat.Scrolldownagainuntilyouseetheslider

that currently prevents you to download from

anywhere other than the Play store. Tap the slider

so it turns green.

Unknown downloads

1

Go through the steps to set up your

account, such as linking your WhatsApp account

with your phone by sending a verification message

and setting a profile picture. The app will

automatically sync with your contacts list, provided

you’ve given it that permission.

Setuptheaccount

4

Open up your web browser and go to

whatsapp.com/android. Press enter and it will take

you to the Android WhatsApp messenger APK. Tap

on the Download Now button and the APK will start

to download. You can still do this even if you

already have WhatsApp downloaded.

Find the APK

2

Afterithasdownloaded,followthesteps

on the screen to install WhatsApp on your phone.

Accept the various permissions, agree to the

terms and conditions and the app will then install

on your phone. For those of you with WhatsApp

already, it’ll just be like a normal update.

Install WhatsApp

3

App used » WhatsApp Messenger Works with » Android 2.1 and up