I just flashed GrapheneOS for the first time on my Pixel 6, and so far the switch from stock has been smooth and almost all my old apps are working as intended. The only major issue I'm facing at the moment is trying to restore my WhatsApp backup, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to make it work.

This is what I've tried so far:

  1. installed Google Services Framework, Google Play Services, and Google Play Store
  2. added my Google account in accounts (this will be removed once I get the backup restored)
  3. redownloaded Drive and WhatsApp
  4. Logged in to Drive to confirm backup is there
  5. Given WhatsApp permission to contacts and storage when asked

Now, when I get the to part where WhatsApp asks to give permission to restore from the Drive backup, it asks me to login again to Google but since this is already done it just says that that account is already added. Backing out at this point only allows me to skip the backup, leading to empty chat history.

Not sure if the order I tried to do things is wrong or why it is not working. I've tried to install the app from both Aurora and Play store, but the results were the same in both cases. I also tried creating a WhatsApp folder manually and copying the Databases and Backups folders there, but I didn't get any prompt to restore from a local backup either.

Any help for the newbie would be highly appreciated!

You need the Google app from the play store, login with that and it should work fine.

I am having the exact same problem unfortunately and deadinside91 has explained it very well. In my case it is even more flagrant since I am moving from grapheneos in a pixel4a to grapheneos in a pixel 6a. Not sure what you mean by the "Google app". All the apps I download are from the google play store. I have the sandboxed google play services installed in the owner profile; and it does not make any difference, it seems impossible to restore the whatsapp backup from my google account.

Atotalnoob probably meant the Google launcher app (called just "Google" on the Play Store), but sadly installing this and reinstalling WhatsApp does not seem to change anything, I am still not able to restore the backup from Drive. It really is too bad because everything else aside from this is working perfectly and where I am from WhatsApp is unfortunately the main channel for communication, so losing all my chat history would be a big loss.

I had the same problem a few days ago, it's the same for all apps requiring access to local google accounts.

It worked to back up Whatsapp to a local file on a normal Android installation, then just transfer the file manually.

  • Yann replied to this.
    16 days later

    Hi, I'm having a problem restoring my WhatsApp backup. I tried putting the backup file in /WhatsApp/Databases (I had to create the directory, I think WhatsApp has access to it - I set up the WhatsApp dir with storage scopes), and also in /Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Databases, which is where WhatsApp seems to be writing its backups, but either way, WhatsApp isn't noticing the backup and triggering a restore. Any ideas on what I should be doing different? Thanks.

      17 days later

      riX
      Do you mean there is also local backup? I have my backup in Drive and Whatsapp is disconnected from my former phone.

      I just gave up my whatsapp history. Inconvenient? Sure. A fresh start. Then I started doing it from time to time. Just uninstall and reinstall without restoring. Feels fresh, you should try it.

      Let it go.

      2 months later
      9 months later

      paneos Thanks, did not work...

      I had the same experience, and found I needed to grant WhatsApp itself the Contact permission. Not via Contact Scopes, it needed the full permission before it'd pick up my existing Google account =/.

      Anyone know if it can be limited more than that? What does it actually need from Contacts for this to work...?

        Shados Open the App info for WhatsApp > Permissions > 3 dots > All permissions. You'll notice that the permission "find accounts on your device" is listed under Contacts.

        So it seems it requires the contacts permission to be able to see your Google account.

        This seems to be something specific to the way that WhatsApp does backups to Google Drive.

        I say that because Cryptomator can also integrate with Google Drive for backups, and doesn't require the Contacts permission to do that.

        I haven't looked into it any further than this, but this hopefully helps to provide you some additional context.

        Kinda interesting. I don't think it helps re. contact scopes, though... there doesn't appear to be any specific contact I can add to the scope that will let it pick up my google account (including a contact w/ the same email as my google account).

        3 months later

        This worked for me for the "This account already exists on your device" issue:
        After 2 days of trial and error, I was finally able to restore my chat history. Here's what I did:

        1. Install WhatsApp using Google Play Store but don't start the setup.
        2. Navigate to Settings > Passwords and Accounts > Delete the Google account associated with the google drive where your WhatsApp backup is stored.
        3. Grant all permissions to Google Play Services (reverse this after installing WhatsApp).
        4. Complete WhatsApp setup > enter Google account info when prompted
        5. WhatsApp will then prompt you to restore from backup. (enter your encryption key if you encrypted your back up)
        6. Revoke all permissions granted to Google Play Services in step 3.
          All chat history should be restored
          Worked for me... hope it helps someone recover their history
          8 days later