Key Takeaways
- Google Messages lacks a native backup tool, but Google is working on one for seamless chat restoration.
- The upcoming backup tool will use end-to-end encryption and will make it easy to restore conversations on new devices.
- Currently, Google One backs up your texts in Google Messages.
Google has made several improvements to Google Messages this year, including adding Gemini integration. However, for a texting app, Google Messages lacks a key feature: the ability to back up and restore your chats. Currently, Google One takes care of backing up your conversations in the Messages app to the cloud. But this is confusing as not everyone might know about this backup solution. Thankfully, Google is working on a native backup and restore tool for its messaging app.
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A teardown of the latest Google Messages beta (v20241118_02_RC00) by 9to5Google revealed several references to a backup tool. The Android Authority team managed to enable the feature after a bit of tinkering, providing more insight into how it would work.
Based on the screenshots, Google Messages will seemingly prompt you to activate the backup option once the feature is rolled out. The prompt will appear in the menu that pops up when you tap your profile icon in the top-right corner of the app.
You can use the tool to back up your RCS chats and any associated media to the linked Google account. For privacy and security reasons, Google plans to use end-to-end encryption for backups, though this will require you to use a screen lock on your phone.
Apparently, Google Messages will automatically restore all your conversations to a new device when you sign in to the app with the associated Google account.
Diving into the Backup & sync option in the Settings menu reveals that you’ll be able to set Google Messages to only backup media over Wi-Fi, thereby saving mobile data.
In many cases, Google One does not restore text backups properly on a new device, or users might skip the restore option entirely during the initial setup. Restoring or transferring RCS conversations between Android devices is also a mess, with the current Google One solution not being reliable enough.
A native backup and sync option in Google Messages will ensure you can restore your conversations even after setting up the device.
Additionally, most popular messaging apps offer a built-in backup solution, so it is surprising that Google Messages lacks this essential feature.
From the screenshots, it seems Google is almost done with the backup and sync feature for Google Messages. So its public release should not be far away now.