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I ran into this weird situation, where:

  1. I backed up my WhatsApp to local storage, inside the Databases folder

  2. Then I changed my WhatsApp number (to another new SIM)

  3. Format my HTC Phone (HTC One E9+ Dual SIM).

  4. Copy back all WhatsApp folder back to the Internal Storage

  5. Re-install WhatsApp, but, all it asks me is this (below)

    Upon "Skip", nothing, no chat restored.

I have already renamed the database file as per Restoring your chat history to msgstore.db.crypt12 and also kept the same file with the name msgstore.db.crypt. But, it simply, doesn't even detect it & asks nothing as backup found/restore.

Any guess/idea?

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5 Answers 5

Reset to default
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Disclaimer: this solution is offered to those who as myself found this post via googling for "whatsapp not restoring local backup", I have not changed my number.

I've tried giving permissions before Whatsapp starting as advised in other answer, but to no success, restarted my phone - again no success. But then I noted "Whatsapp" folder as seen by android file manager contains only "Media" folder, whereas to my Linux mounted drive I copied all folders, which gave me a clue. I copied all "whatsapp" previous phone folder to some folder on the "new" phone via laptop and copied from there to "whatsapp" folder via internal android file manager app. Then Whatsapp found backup. Looks in my case the issue might have been with Linux-Android USB link.

ADDED: Android 11 release issue and solution:

WhatsApp is now in [Internal storage]/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Databases - that you can check for yourself after installing it on a new phone (install first - not run yet, then copy files from old phone over to new one in that new folder, then start WhatsApp on new phone).

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    I wanted to confirm that this method works! Somehow the folder was moved from data/whatsapp to Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp. I had to copy the backups and databases folder and then it worked. Also this article helped me faq.whatsapp.com/android/chats/how-to-restore-your-chat-history (you can rename the backups if you want to restore a specific date)
    – Enrico
    Oct 21, 2021 at 8:55
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    I had to copy to this new folder and then give permissions in advance (see other answer). Thank you!
    – Robie Basak
    Oct 27, 2021 at 21:53
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Android 11 release issue and solution:

In my case, after backing up the WhatsApp folder via USB and restoring it using the same method to the new phone, I discovered that WhatsApp was unable to find the backup in the path /data/media/0/WhatsApp (which is mapped to USB on my Android 11 Pixel 4a as "Internal Storage").

Moving the folder instead to /data/media/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp did the trick for me. No permission changes were necessary. I did this via a root shell on a custom ROM, but it should also be possible on a regular phone to simply recreate the folder structure using the USB connection:

  • Force close WhatsApp
  • Go into app settings and clear WhatsApp's storage
  • Via USB, create Android folder if it's missing
  • Create media subfolder if it's missing
  • Create com.whatsapp subfolder if it's missing
  • Copy your WhatsApp folder to the com.whatsapp subfolder
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5

I had problems with this too, and today finally it worked. I'm not sure which of the following additional steps did the trick, so I'll list both:

  1. I copied the entire WhatsApp folder over from the old phone to the new one (apparently the asker already did this).
  2. After installing WhatsApp, I gave the app all possible permissions before running it: under Settings/Apps, select WhatsApp, tap Permissions, and then select all permissions listed under "denied" and tap "allow" (you can revoke the permissions again after the backup is succesfully restored).

After doing this, running WhatsApp and confirming my phone number, I was finally prompted to restore the local backup. Before that, I had selected "give permission" in the popup from the screenshot above, then approved the permissions it asked for, but apparently this is only for the Google Drive restore. It looks like restoring a local backup only works if the permissions are already present?!

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  • Hi you mention "Google drive restore". Strangely I could not find a way to give such permission via neither "app permissions", not in "drive" app. rawinfopages.com/tips/2015/10/… says to use drive.google.com address, but does not work on my Android. Do you know where is it?
    – Martian2020
    Aug 31, 2021 at 3:50
  • I had to copy to the new folder (see other answer) and then give permissions in advance. I then agreed to let it look in my Google Drive (even though I've never backed up there) and then it found the local backup. Thank you!
    – Robie Basak
    Oct 27, 2021 at 21:53
  • I also had to disconnect Whatsup from Google Drive. Otherwise it would only attempt to restore from the drive which failed bacuse the backup never succeeded
    – RM.
    May 8 at 1:10
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If your backup was made when you had a different phone number than the one you currently have, you will not be able to restore it. As found on https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/20887921/#restore

Restoring or transferring a backup

WhatsApp will ask you to restore your chats and media from a backup once you verify your number. Simply tap RESTORE when prompted to. If WhatsApp doesn't detect a backup, it could be because:

  • You aren't logged into the same Google account.
  • You aren't using the same phone number that was used to create the backup.
  • Your SD card or chat history is corrupted.
  • A backup file doesn't exist on the Google Drive account or locally on your phone.

Note: The easiest way to transfer data to a new phone is by using Google Drive. If you want to use a local backup, you'll need to transfer the files to the new phone using a computer, file explorer or SD Card. If your data isn't stored on the /sdcard/WhatsApp/ folder, you might see "internal storage" or "main storage" folders.

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  • Thanks. Trying to get OLD SIM working :( BUt I already changed my number in whatsapp, but, yeah, backup was made with previous sim.
    – user3670334
    Nov 7, 2018 at 19:14
  • I just want to be clear on the steps, please let me know if this is correct. 1. Made backup 2. Reset phone with new SIM 3. Installed WhatApp 4. Changed number connected to account in Whatsapp 5. Attempted Whatsapp restore
    – Lazer
    Nov 8, 2018 at 8:30
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rob74's answer works.

With respect to this website, I will add icing above the cake for others with a similar problem - referencing to the asker step one to five - the right sequence should be:

  1. (2) I changed my Whatsapp Number (to another new SIM). Link: Change WhatsApp number
  2. (1) I backed up my Whatsapp to local storage, inside the Databases Folder
  3. (3) Format my HTC Phone (HTC One E9+ Dual SIM).
  4. (4) Copy back all Whatsapp Folder back to the Internal Storage
  5. Here, I use the solution number (2) from rob74

The option to restore from local data will pop up, just hit OK and done, continue like usual

For those with new phones:

  1. In the new phone, I install WhatsApp just so I know where to paste the copied data
  2. Uninstall WhatsApp. Even though it gave a warning that all data will be erased, it didn't erase my copied data.
  3. Same with above
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    It does not work for me with the latest version of whatsapp...it does have the names of the groups but not the conversations....aany suggestions?
    – Millemila
    Feb 14, 2021 at 5:50

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