WhatsApp backups move to Android settings in June update

Media Wing (LetsxOtt)

Journalist

29 June 2026 · 16 days ago

2 min read

Why Did Google Quietly Move WhatsApp Backups Into Your Phone's Settings?

Source: LetsXott

Android users can now manage their WhatsApp backups straight from their phone's settings, no need to dig around inside the app itself. Google Play services v26.23, release, is what made it possible, dropping the backup controls into Android's system settings for the very first time. Before this, if you wanted to check or change your WhatsApp backup schedule, you had to open WhatsApp, go into settings, find the chat backup menu, and work from there. It's the kind of thing that sounds like a minor fix until you're switching phones at a phone shop and can't find the setting in under two minutes. For WhatsApp's 2 billion plus active users, this closes a long-standing gap between the app's backup setup and how Android normally handles data management.

Because the change comes through Play services rather than a full operating system update, it can reach a much wider range of Android devices without depending on which version of Android the phone is actually running.That's a bigger deal than it sounds.

Samsung, older Pixel devices, and mid-range phones that don't get fast OS updates can all still pick this up. And it arrived alongside a packed June update that also added an AI search button inside the Play Store called Ask Play, extra Play Protect security checks for apps downloaded outside the store, and the ability to move passwords between Google Password Manager and third-party apps like 1Password or Bitwarden using a new open standard called Credential Exchange.

WhatsApp is also separately building a dedicated section inside the app where users can view old backups, delete duplicates to free up storage, and manage shortcuts to Google Drive storage.On top of that, WhatsApp's been testing its own cloud backup option that would give users an alternative to Google Drive, with up to 2GB free and a 50GB paid plan reportedly priced around $0.99 a month. The Play services v26.23 update from June 15 is what kicked off the device settings integration, and it's still rolling out gradually across devices.