A lot of important communication happens on WhatsApp, which is why one excellent feature of WhatsApp is automatic backups (if enabled). This means that if you were to ever lose the data on your phone, or even if your device were misplaced, you could restore from a backup that was created not too long ago. Unfortunately, an issue that users often face with the WhatsApp backup system is that it will get stuck during the backup. This article will explore the reasons why your WhatsApp backup might be getting stuck and then provide you with the solutions to this error.
- Part 1: What Causes WhatsApp Backup to Become Stuck?
- Part 2: How to Fix “WhatsApp Backup Stuck”
- Part 3: Alternative Ways to Backup WhatsApp
Part 1: What Causes WhatsApp Backup to Become Stuck?
There are many reasons why your WhatsApp backup might become stuck and some of the common reasons are:
- Poor internet connection – Since WhatsApp is saving your files to a cloud storage service, it needs a strong and reliable internet connection. A weak internet connection is the main cause of a stuck WhatsApp backup.
- Low cloud storage space – When you are backing up WhatsApp to Google Drive on an Android device, it does not use up any of the storage space allocated to you by Google. However, this might be the cause for iPhone users. If you do not have enough iCloud storage, it could be causing your WhatsApp backup to become stuck.
- Glitch with the device – There could be a glitch on your device that has led to the backup becoming stuck.
- Outdated WhatsApp version – If you have not updated WhatsApp for a while, it could be running on a version that is outdated and is therefore no longer compliant with the backup system.
Now we will look at how you can address a stuck WhatsApp backup on your Android or iPhone.
Part 2: How to Fix “WhatsApp Backup Stuck”
No matter whether you are using iPhone or Android phone, you can find solutions here. We would tell you if the solution is only for iPhone or only for Android.
1. Common Method – Check Internet Connection
WhatsApp requires a strong and stable internet connection so that it can communicate with iCloud or Google Drive servers and upload your files as a backup. Therefore, your phone needs to have a strong connection during a backup. If the connection becomes too weak, the backup will pause until a stable internet connection has been restored. To check your internet connection on an Android device:
- Go to settings and choose “Network & Internet”.
- Choose Wi-Fi and tap on your connected network.
On your iPhone:
- Go to settings and then tap on Wi-Fi.
- Connect to a stable Wi-Fi connection.
Here you will see the signal strength of the network you are connected to. If this is weak, you can try to move closer to your router. Alternatively, you can connect to a different Wi-Fi network or even disconnect from your current network and then reconnect.
If you are using mobile data to back up your WhatsApp, make sure the option to backup using cellular is enabled on your phone. This can be done in Settings > WhatsApp > Cellular Data. Enable the using cellular data by turning the switch on.
2. Common Method – Restart Phone
Often, if your phone has glitched and the WhatsApp backup is now stuck, you can easily restart the phone. Restarting your phone will normally resolve the issue since it will cause all background processes and applications to close, and then only the necessary applications will start when you boot up your phone.
On iOS
- Hold down the power button.
- Drag the power off slider and wait until your phone has powered off.
- After a few seconds, hold the power button again until the Apple logo shows.
On Android
The exact method to restart your phone on Android devices varies but the general method is:
- Hold down the power button.
- Choose the restart option (if present). If it is not there, you can choose to power off your device. Wait until your phone is completely off and then after a few seconds, power on your device by holding on to the power button.
3. Common Method – Update WhatsApp to the Latest Version
Most of the updates for WhatsApp are minor updates, meaning they repair a few bugs and issues users have come across. However, some updates are much larger and are responsible for changes to WhatsApp. If you do not have automatic updates enabled and have not updated WhatsApp for a while, it could be running on a version that has issues with the backup system. Therefore, one solution to fix the WhatsApp stuck backup error is to update your WhatsApp.
On an Android phone:
- Go to the Google Play Store and choose “My apps & games”. This can either be found by swiping from the right towards the center of the screen or by tapping on your profile picture.
- Find WhatsApp and tap on the “update” option.
On iPhone:
- Open the Apple App Store and tap on your profile icon.
- Find WhatsApp from the pending updates and tap on the update option.
Once WhatsApp has updated, attempt to start the backup again.
4. WhatsApp iCloud Backup Stuck – Check iCloud Space
iPhone users usually complain about a problem of “WhatsApp backup to iCloud stuck”. As mentioned previously, backing up WhatsApp to iCloud uses the total storage you have been allocated to use. The amount of storage you have differs based upon how much you pay for a subscription to iCloud. Users who have signed up for a free account get 5GB of free space. This can be quickly used up if you are a heavy user of WhatsApp and you have a lot of media files that are being backed up to iCloud.
To check how much storage is free on iCloud on your iPhone, go to Settings and then tap on your name. Choose iCloud and you will see your overall iCloud usage.
If you do not have much storage space left, there are a few things you can do to increase or free up some storage:
- Upgrade iCloud plan – You can choose to pay a monthly fee to upgrade your iCloud plan. This will give you more storage space and allow you to store more files/backups to iCloud.
- Delete files – You can remove some files from your iCloud to free up some space.
- Stop WhatsApp videos backup – Videos often require a lot of storage space when they are being backed up. You can choose to disable WhatsApp video backup in WhatsApp backup settings.
5. WhatsApp Backup to Google Drive Stuck – Clear WhatsApp Cache
The cache is a way for applications to temporarily store data that is likely to be required by the user again. This makes it quicker for the application to locate the data and improves the user experience. However, if you have never cleared your device’s cache, or WhatsApp’s cache itself, it could accumulate and reach a point that leads to WhatsApp facing errors. To clear WhatsApp cache on your Android phone:
- Go to settings and choose “Apps & Notifications”.
- Find WhatsApp and tap on it.
- Choose the “Storage” option. Here you will see an option that says: “Clear cache”.
- Tap on “Clear cache” and wait for your WhatsApp cache to be cleared.
- Restart your phone using the steps listed in method 2.
Part 3: Alternative Ways to Backup WhatsApp
If the methods listed above have not worked, you can try to create a WhatsApp backup via an alternative method. These require more work than the built-in WhatsApp update method however will still let you create a backup that can be used in the future.
Backup Option 1 – iTunes Backup (iOS Only)
Although this method does not directly create a backup just for WhatsApp, it creates a backup for your device and the data of some of the applications on your iPhone, one of which is WhatsApp. Therefore, you can use this method to create a backup of your phone and your WhatsApp data.
- Download and install iTunes on your PC.
- Connect your iPhone to your PC via the USB data transfer cable that came with your phone.
- Launch iTunes. If you see a message that is asking if you trust this device, follow the instructions, and choose to trust the device. You may need to unlock your iPhone once you have connected it to your computer.
- Find your device through iTunes. It will either be listed on the left pane, or it will appear as a phone symbol on iTunes. Click on it once you have found it.
- Then tap on “Back Up Now”.
- Follow any additional instructions that appear on the screen and then wait for the backup to complete.
Backup Option 2 – Backup WhatsApp to Local Storage (Android Only)
If you are an Android user, you can choose to back up WhatsApp to internal storage when WhatsApp backup to Google Drive is stuck. Here is how to do this:
- Tap on the 3 dots on the top right corner.
- Choose Settings from the options.
- Press Chats > Chat Backup.
- You will see Google Drive settings. Press Back up to Google Drive and select Never.
- Now you can press BACK UP, and you WhatsApp data will be saved to your internal storage.
Backup Option 3 – Export Chats to Email
This way of creating a backup does not allow you to restore it to your iPhone in the future. However, you will still be able to read and access the chats that you have chosen to back up. To export your WhatsApp chat to an email account, ensure that you have an email account connected to an email application on your phone. This method works for both iPhone and Android users. Here we take iPhone as an example to show you how to export the chats to email.
- Open WhatsApp and open that chat you would like to export.
- Tap on name of the person.
- Pick “Export Chat” and then choose if you would like to attach media (images, videos, etc.) or not.
- Select your email application and then send the email to an address that you can access. This can be the same address as the one you are sending the email from.
Wait for the email to send. You can access the chat by opening the email and then either opening the text file that is attached to the email. If you see a ZIP file, you will need to download the ZIP file and then extract it before you can access the chat.
Repeat the process for all the chats you want to export to email.
Conclusion
There are many parts to this guide since the causes of the WhatsApp stuck backup on iPhones and Android phones is vast, but we hope at least one part of this article has been useful to you. We have many other articles to do with WhatsApp and issues users often face when using it so feel free to have a look through them too:
