When WhatsApp releases new beta updates, it’s likely that they might contain weird bugs or crashes..
For example, in the recent Android beta updates, it was not possible to make calls:
[tweet https://twitter.com/WABetaInfo/status/1138384901751889920]
Or when the user opened a WhatsApp chat with media:
[tweet https://twitter.com/WABetaInfo/status/1070451071691182080]
Or when images, videos and GIFs disappeared!!
[tweet https://twitter.com/WABetaInfo/status/1103804816676085766]
We understand that it’s a beta version and it’s possible that there are some issues, for this reason I will give some tips about how to do when a new beta version is available and you care to keep your chat history.
- A new WhatsApp beta update is available on Google Play.
- Open WhatsApp Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup > Select ‘Back up’.
You can choose to back up your chat history on the SD Card or Google Drive. I recommend to choose ‘SD Card’ if you want to do it quickly.
If you have not storage available on your SD Card, you can choose ‘Google Drive’, because it gives unlimited data for WhatsApp backups. - When WhatsApp has completely uploaded/saved the backup, you can finally update.
- If you have updated and you experience issues, uninstall the update and download the latest Android web release on their website.
- Install the update and restore the chat history.
- If something goes wrong while restoring your chat history, you need to download the update where you backed up the chat history from APKMirror.
- A new WhatsApp beta update is available on TestFlight.
- You can consider to back up your chat history from WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Back up. This is necessary when WhatsApp updates the database in the new beta.
WhatsApp doesn’t update the database very often (probably the last time they did it was when they were developing the ‘Delete for everyone’ feature, more than 1 year ago), so you don’t need to back up the chat history every time a new beta is available. - Update to the new beta: if something wrong happens (for example you see your media disappearing, or WhatsApp crashes when you try to open a chat), open TestFlight, select ‘WhatsApp Messenger’ > Previous builds and download the old update.
- A new WhatsApp update is available on the App Store.
- WhatsApp tests the update a lot of times on TestFlight (thanks to feedback submitted from beta users), so the update should be always safe.. but never say never!
In this case, if you care your chat history, you should always back up your chat history before updating, when a new update is available on the App Store. - Apple does not natively provide an option to downgrade apps, so if WhatsApp is unusable you should wait a new update (but at least your chat history is safe).
You can also consider to make a quick search on Twitter to discover if there are issues with a new update. If you don’t see tweets reporting crashes and critical bugs, you can update.
If something wrong happens after the update, follow the guide above mentioned.