
They are all that is needed to restore the chat history through reinstalls (regular updates work with no problems). I regularly copy the files under /home/nemo/android_storage/WhatsApp to a secure place. (Luckily, the app I had installed MicroG for doesn’t require it anymore.) Local backups are executed daily regardless. I answered a resounding “NO” and it went on with no problems, proposing to restore from the local backup the previous working install had left. Now the message was something like “To look for backups on Google Drive, you have to install Google Play Services. In desperation, I uninstalled MicroG and tried to reinstall WhatsApp. After tapping on OK it went on looking for backups forever. I had to reinstall it and it gave the same message the OP is reporting. There! You now have WhatsApp downloaded and ready to use on your mobile phone.WhatsApp uses Google Play Services for backups on Google Drive. Once WhatsApp has finished downloading, tap Open to launch it. Do so, or if you don’t have an Apple Account, click this link and follow the instructions in order to set one up. If you’re using an iOS device, you may be asked to log into your Apple Account before you go any further. On an Android device, you will be notified of what parts of your phone WhatsApp might need access to in order to function properly. Tap Install (or, on an iPhone, tap Get, and then tap Install). You should be taken to a page with information about WhatsApp (and perhaps similar applications). A menu should drop down with some search suggestions tap the one labelled WhatsApp Messenger. Tap the search box near the top of the screen and use your virtual keyboard to type in “whatsapp”. Find the Google Play / Play Store program (it will be called App Store on an iPhone) and tap it to open it. Detailed instructions on how to download and install WhatsApp

If you can figure out what to do from these short instructions, then great! If not, read on, and we’ll walk you through the process with extra details and screenshots of where to go. When WhatsApp finishes downloading, tap Open to launch it. Tap Accept to give the necessary device permissions to WhatsApp. Tap Install (or Get and then Install) beside the WhatsApp program. Turn on your mobile device and tap Play Store or App Store to launch it. If you can’t find WhatsApp on your phone’s default application store, visit this page on your phone’s web browser to download WhatsApp for any platform. The process for an Apple iOS device (such as an iPhone) or Windows Phone will be slightly different, but not too much so. For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll be using a phone that runs the Android operating system. The first thing that you will want to do if you want to use WhatsApp is to actually download the program to your mobile phone and install it.
