Forgot Your WhatsApp Backup Password? What Still Works
You turned on end-to-end encrypted backups because it sounded like the safe choice. Months later, on a new phone, WhatsApp asks for the password, and you don't remember setting one.
This is one of the few WhatsApp problems with a hard edge: if you forgot your WhatsApp backup password, nobody can open that backup for you. But depending on what you still have, your chats may not be lost. Here's how to tell.
What end-to-end encrypted backup means
Normally, WhatsApp backups sit in your Google Drive or iCloud account. With end-to-end encrypted backup turned on, the backup is locked with either:
- a password you chose, or
- a 64-digit encryption key WhatsApp generated, which you were asked to save.
Only that password or key opens it. WhatsApp doesn't have it, and neither do Google or Apple. That's the whole point of the feature, and it's also why a forgotten password can't be reset.
The question that decides everything: do you still have the old phone?
If WhatsApp still works on your current or old phone
Your chats are on that phone right now. The encrypted backup is just a copy. So:
- Keep using that phone for now. Don't uninstall WhatsApp or reset the phone.
- Open WhatsApp's backup settings (Settings, then Chats, then Chat backup) and set up the backup again so that it's one you can open: either turn off end-to-end encryption for backups, or set it up with a new password or key that you store safely. Follow the prompts for your version of WhatsApp; it may ask you to confirm it's you.
- Run a fresh backup and check its date.
- Then move to the new phone and restore from that new backup.
If you're moving to a new phone and the old one still works, WhatsApp's chat transfer during setup is another route that doesn't depend on the backup at all.
If the old phone is gone
Then the encrypted backup is the only copy of your history, and without the password or key it can't be restored. WhatsApp will let you skip the restore and start with an empty chat list. At that point, the remaining options are the ones in recover WhatsApp messages without a backup: the other people in your chats still have their copies, and a computer where WhatsApp was linked may still show recent conversations. For individual messages, see how to see deleted WhatsApp messages.
Can you guess the password?
You can try the passwords you commonly use, but WhatsApp limits the number of attempts, and too many wrong guesses can lock you out of the backup. Try your most likely candidates carefully rather than cycling through variations. If you chose the 64-digit key, check wherever you might have saved it: a password manager, a notes app, a screenshot, an email to yourself, a printed page.
What doesn't work
- WhatsApp support can't reset or reveal the password. They don't have it.
- Google or Apple can't decrypt the backup either; they store it but can't read it.
- Third-party "decryption" tools for current WhatsApp backups are, at best, useless and, at worst, a way to hand your account to a stranger.
How to avoid this next time
- Store the password or key in a password manager the moment you create it.
- Prefer the 64-digit key only if you have somewhere reliable to keep it. A key nobody can find is worse than no encryption for most people.
- Check your backup from time to time: that it ran recently, and that you can still name the password.
- On a business phone, don't let one person hold the only password. Staff leave; the password leaves with them.
Where Tenashi fits
A company's customer history shouldn't depend on one employee remembering one password on one phone. When your WhatsApp Business number is connected to Tenashi, conversations are stored on our servers as they arrive and are available to your team in a shared inbox, independent of the phone's backup. If the phone is replaced or its backup can't be opened, the history your team works from is still there. Messages customers delete for everyone stay in the thread, tagged Deleted on WhatsApp. For the wider picture, see WhatsApp backups vs a shared inbox.
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FAQ
Can WhatsApp reset my backup password?
No. With end-to-end encrypted backups, only your password or 64-digit key can open the backup. WhatsApp, Google and Apple don't have it and can't reset it. If WhatsApp still works on a phone, back up again from there with a password you can open.
Can I restore WhatsApp without the encrypted backup password?
Not from that backup. You can skip the restore and start fresh, or, if WhatsApp still works on your old phone, create a new backup from it or use chat transfer to move your chats directly to the new phone.
What happens if I enter the wrong password too many times?
WhatsApp limits the number of password attempts, and too many wrong guesses can lock you out of the backup. Try only your most likely passwords, and check password managers and saved notes for the 64-digit key before guessing.
How do I turn off end-to-end encrypted backup?
On the phone where WhatsApp is working, go to Settings, then Chats, then Chat backup, then End-to-end encrypted backup, and follow the prompts. Then run a new backup so the latest copy is one you can open.
Is the 64-digit key the same as my backup password?
They're alternatives. When you turn on encrypted backup, you choose either a password or a generated 64-digit key. Whichever you chose is the only thing that opens that backup.
Encryption protects your backup from everyone, including you. For a business number, keep your customer history somewhere your whole team can reach. Start with Tenashi.