the safety framework that can prevent a disaster

It seems like a simple application, which works perfectly just by adding a phone number and a Google Drive account to make a backup copy. But no: WhatsApp is much more complex than it seems. And puts at our disposal different ways to recover accountways that can save us from losing forever. I know perfectly well.

Since I’m constantly talking on WhatsApp and need to stay up to date with everything that’s going on, I’ve registered my phone numbers on the platform so talk to each other without disturbing my friendstest new features and even take users to the extreme without endangering my main number. Taking advantage of a recent trip to the United States, I opened a WhatsApp with an eSIM from the country; number that stopped being operational a week ago. Can I recover the account without having access to SMS?

Set up your WhatsApp with your email address. It’s a lifesaver

Meta introduced the option of recover account by email once it allowed to add data to the user account: since November last year it is possible (after several months in beta).

With the email option, WhatsApp allows restart the session on a new mobileor recover the account on the same phone if the app has been deleted, in three different ways:

• With the reception of an SMS. This is the most common and the one in force since the beginning of the application. How to connect on a new mobile? WhatsApp sends you a six-digit code.
• Via a pop-up in the old phone app. If you try to log in with your WhatsApp account opened on another mobile phone, you will receive the six-digit code there.
• By sending an email. You haven’t installed the app on the other phone and you can’t receive SMS either? WhatsApp will send you the encryption code to the email address you have set up in your account.

Adding an email address is a great way to ensure WhatsApp account recovery. In fact, I was able to verify this myself: if I hadn’t added the email to my missing US number, I would have lost this WhatsApp forever. Even if I can no longer receive SMS, I will receive emails: email has a longer lifespan than the phone number. If only because we do not have to pay for it.

How to add email address to WhatsApp

It doesn’t cost anything, you add more recovery possibilities and it doesn’t imply a loss of privacy either: I always recommend adding the email address to the WhatsApp account. And it’s done in a few steps, both from Android and from the iPhone:

• Open your WhatsApp app.
• Go to Settings (top three dots on Android, bottom cog on iPhone).
• Go to “Account”.
• Go to “Email Address”.
• Click on “Add Email” and enter the email.

• Click on the next button and you will receive a confirmation email. Complete the process and you will have the email configured in WhatsApp.

By default, the app will always send you an SMS if you need to recover the account. And if you have any problem with this number, you will still have access to your WhatsApp by receiving the six-digit code by email.

Cover Image | DALL-E 3 on ChatGPT

In Xataka Android | Not all chargers are the same: these three letters differentiate the best ones. I wouldn’t choose another one

FR Xataka Android | How to make a complete backup of an Android mobile