How to Delete a WhatsApp Backup: What You Can and Can't Do

People usually ask this for one of three reasons. Their cloud storage is full, they're about to sell or hand on a phone and want their chats gone, or they've spotted an old copy of their messages sitting somewhere and it makes them uneasy. All three are fair, but the answer is less tidy than you'd hope, so let me be straight about it before the steps.

WhatsApp's own help pages don't give a 'delete my backup' button. They explain how backups are made, what replaces what, and how to switch them off or change where they live. The stored file itself sits in the account of whoever holds it, such as WhatsApp's own cloud storage, your Google Account or iCloud. Below is everything the help pages do confirm, so you can act on solid ground and not guess.

What a WhatsApp backup is before you delete it

A WhatsApp backup is a copy of your chat history saved to cloud storage so you can get your chats back on a new or reset phone. WhatsApp's help pages say you can back up to WhatsApp cloud storage, to your Google Account on Android, or to iCloud on iPhone. The cloud storage on a Google Account is provided and managed by Google, and iCloud is provided and managed by Apple.

That matters for deleting, because WhatsApp doesn't hold your chat history on its servers. The help pages say it can't restore your chats for you for exactly that reason. The copy is in your storage account, and so are the controls for it.

How WhatsApp backups replace each other

Before you go hunting, two facts from WhatsApp's help pages may solve your problem without any deleting at all.

• Each new Google Account backup replaces the previous one, and there's no way to restore an older one. So you don't build up a pile of old backups there; you have one.
• Google may automatically delete backups that haven't been updated in five months. If you stop backing up, an old Android copy can simply expire.
• Backups are tied to the phone number and Google Account they were created with. That's why a backup made on a number you no longer use can sit there untouched.

If your worry is that your storage is full, that is a Google or Apple storage question, and the single backup may not be the main culprit. Videos in chats make backups bigger, and WhatsApp lets you choose whether to include them, which I'll come back to.

Stopping new WhatsApp backups on Android

If you want the copy to stop growing or being refreshed, you can change the schedule. WhatsApp's help pages say to open Settings, tap Chats, then Chat backup, and choose a schedule. On a Google Account backup, selecting Never or Only when I tap Back up stops the automatic copies. You can also turn off Include videos in chats, Back up using cellular, or Back up status archive to shrink what gets saved.

Menus vary by app version, so look for Chat backup under Chats if your screen doesn't match. Changing the schedule doesn't remove a copy that already exists. It just stops new ones.

Switching your WhatsApp backup provider

WhatsApp says you can change where backups go at any time from Settings, then Chats, then Chat backup, then Cloud backup, where you pick WhatsApp or Google on Android, or WhatsApp or iCloud on iPhone. On iPhone, the help page adds that if you choose WhatsApp cloud storage, you can't also create an iCloud backup.

Switching provider is the closest thing to a clean break inside the app. Your future copies go somewhere new. The older copy still sits with the first provider until you manage it there.

Turning off end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp backups

Some people say 'delete my backup' when they mean 'remove the password on it'. If that's you, WhatsApp's help pages give these steps for Android:

1. Go to Settings, then Chats, then Chat backup.
2. Tap End-to-end encrypted backup.
3. Tap Turn off, and follow the prompts.
4. Tap Turn off again to confirm.

Think twice before turning it off. The same help page says an encrypted backup is protected by a passkey, a password or a 64-digit key, and if you lose that and can't get into your account, WhatsApp can't send you a copy, reset it or restore the backup for you. The protection is the point.

Taking WhatsApp out of your iPhone device backup

On iPhone, WhatsApp's help pages mention a second kind of copy. Your iPhone may automatically create backups of your WhatsApp chats as part of the device backup, and those aren't protected by WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption. To turn this off:

1. Tap Settings or your profile picture, then tap your name.
2. Tap iCloud, then iCloud backup.
3. Tap your device under All device backups.
4. Switch WhatsApp off.

WhatsApp adds that turning this off doesn't turn on an encrypted backup, and WhatsApp messages aren't included in your device backup afterwards. If you want the encrypted version, set that up separately.

Deleting the stored WhatsApp backup file itself

To remove the copy that's already stored, you need the settings of the account that holds it: your Google Account storage on Android, or iCloud on iPhone. WhatsApp's help pages don't walk you through those screens, and I won't guess at menus that change between versions. Search for the backup management page in Google's or Apple's own help for your device and follow it from there.

Before you do, please read the next section. Once a copy is gone, WhatsApp can't get it back for you.

What you lose when you delete a WhatsApp backup

• Your restore point. WhatsApp says to restore chats you need the same phone number and cloud storage account used to create the backup.
• Deleted messages you might still want. WhatsApp says that when you delete a message there's no way to get it back unless you've included it in a backup.
• Your safety net if the phone is lost or broken. With no backup, a new phone starts with empty chats.

My advice is simple. Make a fresh backup first if you still need the chats, or move them with WhatsApp's chat transfer feature. If a backup has got stuck on the way, my fix for a stuck WhatsApp backup may save you a lot of trial and error, and my WhatsApp help guide pulls together the other transfer and privacy questions in one place.

Deleting chats is not the same as deleting a WhatsApp backup

It's easy to mix these up. Deleting a chat or a message removes it from your phone. It doesn't reach into a copy that was saved earlier, so the old message can come back if you restore from that backup. That's useful when you've deleted something by mistake, and worth remembering if you deleted something because you wanted it gone.

Frequently asked questions

Can I delete my WhatsApp backup from inside WhatsApp?

WhatsApp's help pages don't describe a delete-backup button. You can change the schedule, switch provider or turn off encrypted backups, but the stored copy is managed in the storage account that holds it.

Does a new WhatsApp backup replace the old one?

On Google Account storage, yes. WhatsApp says each new backup replaces the previous one and you can't restore an older backup.

Will an old Google backup be deleted automatically?

WhatsApp says Google may automatically delete backups that haven't been updated in five months.

How do I stop my iPhone backing up WhatsApp?

Go to Settings, your name, iCloud, iCloud backup, tap your device and switch WhatsApp off. WhatsApp messages then aren't included in your device backup.

Can WhatsApp restore a backup I've deleted?

No. WhatsApp says it can't restore your chats for you because your chat history isn't stored on its servers.