Twenty-one answers
Questions, answered.
Everything people ask before letting a program read their messages — including the parts that don't flatter us.
§ 01 The basics
What it is and what it does
How do I automatically save WhatsApp photos to my PC?
Install WhatsBackUp on Windows and scan one QR code with your phone. From that moment every photo and video you send or receive is written to a folder on your PC automatically, with nothing further to do. A single click also imports the media already sitting in your existing chats.
The link uses WhatsApp's ordinary Linked devices feature — the same one WhatsApp Web uses.
What exactly is WhatsBackUp?
A free, open-source Windows desktop app that archives your WhatsApp media and message text to your own PC. It sits in the system tray, saves photos and videos as ordinary files, keeps message text in a searchable local database, and can mirror videos into a cloud folder you already sync.
It can also sort the archive — albums for photographs, projects for conversations — though that part is optional and off until you switch it on.
What does it save?
Photos, videos and message text by default, from one-to-one chats and groups, both sent and received. In settings you can also switch on documents, voice notes, audio and stickers — or narrow it down: received only, images only, particular chats excluded.
Does it cost anything?
No. Free and open source. No account, no subscription, no storage limits, no upsell.
The only thing that can ever cost money is the optional AI sorting, and only because it uses your API key with a provider you choose. Sorting a few hundred photographs costs roughly $1.50 once, the figure is quoted before anything is spent, and there is a monthly limit you set. With a model on your own PC via Ollama or LM Studio it costs nothing at all.
Which Windows versions does it work on?
Windows 10 and Windows 11, 64-bit. There is no macOS, Linux, Android or iPhone version. Your phone can be either Android or iPhone — that side works through WhatsApp's standard linked-device feature.
§ 02 Privacy & safety
Where your data goes, and the risks
Does it upload my messages anywhere?
No. There is no account, no server of ours, and no telemetry of any kind. Media goes into folders on your PC, and into your own cloud folder if you set one up.
The single exception is AI sorting, off until you deliberately enable it. When on, it sends photographs and a sample of message text to the provider you pick, using your own API key. Before the first call the app shows you the literal data it would send and asks you to accept it. Pick a local model and nothing leaves the machine.
Where is my API key stored?
Encrypted with Windows' own data protection, on your PC alone. It never appears in the settings file in readable form, never in the logs, and never in the diagnostic report you might send when asking for help.
Will this get my WhatsApp account banned?
There is a real if small risk, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. WhatsBackUp uses an unofficial client library. WhatsApp's terms don't permit unofficial clients, and accounts have been limited for using them.
In its favour: it behaves like an ordinary linked device, sends no messages, does no bulk operations, and automates nothing resembling spam. But the risk is not zero. If your WhatsApp account is essential to your livelihood, weigh that before installing.
Is it legal to archive messages other people sent me?
That depends where you live and what you do with them. Keeping a personal copy of messages sent to you is generally fine in most places; republishing them, or holding other people's personal data in a business context, can fall under privacy law such as the GDPR.
What we can tell you plainly: the app archives media from everyone you chat with, and none of them agreed to it. Keep the copies to yourself, and delete what you shouldn't be keeping.
Why should I trust an unsigned program that reads my messages?
You don't have to. That is the honest answer, and it is why the entire source is public. You can read exactly what it does, and build the installer yourself with npm install and npm run dist rather than trusting the binary we built.
If reading thousands of lines of someone else's code isn't realistic for you, that is a perfectly fair reason to decide against this — or any tool like it.
§ 03 Living with it
Day to day
Can it get back photographs I have already lost?
Sometimes. Import history downloads media still present in your chats, frequently years of photographs people assumed were gone.
But WhatsApp removes older media from its servers, and once a file is gone from both WhatsApp and your phone, nothing brings it back — this app included. Anything unavailable is reported as skipped rather than quietly missed. Which is exactly why it is worth running before you need it.
Does my PC have to stay on?
It only captures while it is running. WhatsApp delivers to connected devices, so anything arriving with the app closed is missed in the moment — though Import history can usually collect it afterwards.
Let it start with Windows and sit in the tray, and this stops being something you think about.
Does my phone need to stay connected?
It works the same way WhatsApp Web does. WhatsBackUp appears in your phone's Linked devices list and receives messages while the app runs on your PC. Modern linked devices keep working for a while even when the phone is offline, but the phone must stay linked to the account.
Can I back up WhatsApp to pCloud, OneDrive or Dropbox?
Yes. Point it at any folder your cloud client already syncs — pCloud Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive for desktop, or a mapped network drive — and videos are written straight there as they arrive, so the cloud client uploads them without a second copy on your disk. If the drive goes offline, files are kept locally until it returns.
How does this compare to WhatsApp's own chat export?
Export chat is a one-off snapshot; this is a standing archive. WhatsApp's export must be repeated for every conversation by hand, caps how much media it includes, and hands you a zip nobody opens again. WhatsBackUp covers every chat at once, runs continuously, saves full-resolution media as ordinary files, and keeps everything searchable.
There is a side-by-side comparison if you want the detail.
Can I read the messages it saved?
Yes. The app has a conversations view for browsing and searching saved message text alongside the media from each chat. The text lives in a standard SQLite database, so it stays readable with ordinary tools even without the app.
What happens when WhatsApp changes something and it breaks?
The app notices and tells you. WhatsApp updates its website without warning, and that can stop capture dead — it has happened before and it will happen again. WhatsBackUp counts consecutive download failures; three in a row and the tray icon turns amber, a notification fires, and a banner appears in the app.
That matters more than it sounds. The worst failure is the silent one, where you discover months later that nothing was saved. Keep automatic updates on so the fix reaches you.
What happens to my files if I uninstall it?
They stay exactly where they are. Every photograph, video and message is an ordinary file in an ordinary folder, and the message database is standard SQLite. Nothing is locked in a proprietary format, and nothing depends on this app continuing to exist.
§ 04 Sorting
The optional part
What does the AI sorting actually do?
It turns a date-ordered pile into something you can navigate. Photographs are grouped into albums it names itself in the language of your own content — Deliveries, Machine repairs, Paperwork — and conversations gather under the project they concern. Photographs also become searchable by what is visible in them, including text read off an invoice, a label or a screenshot.
Which providers can I use, and what does it cost?
Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Groq, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint — plus Ollama and LM Studio for a model on your own PC, which needs no key, costs nothing, and sends nothing over the internet.
Around $1.50 for a few hundred photographs and a couple of hundred conversations. The estimate is shown before anything is spent, results are cached so a second run only pays for what is new, and a monthly limit stops it either way.
Whatever you pick, Test connection asks it three separate questions first: whether the key and model name are real, whether it follows a strict format, and whether it can actually see images. A model that cannot see images still sorts your conversations rather than failing hundreds of times over.
What if it files something wrongly — and can I try it free?
Fix it once and it stays fixed. Rename an album, move a photograph, or take one out entirely, and the next sort is told about your correction and works around it instead of undoing it. That was the hardest part to build and it is what makes the feature worth having.
And yes: pick Demo mode in the provider list to label and group your library locally with no key, no internet and no cost, just to see what sorted looks like. Delete all AI labels and albums clears it afterwards.