How to back up and restore chats
Create an encrypted cloud backup and restore your HiYou chat history with a recovery code.
HiYou can save an encrypted copy of your chat history in your private cloud storage. Android uses Google Drive and iPhone uses iCloud. A backup can be restored only on the same platform: an Android backup cannot be restored on iPhone, or vice versa.
Your backup includes chats, messages, call history, and group activity. Local copies of photos, videos, audio, and documents are not included; available media is downloaded again when needed.
Before you start
- On Android, add the Google account you want to use to your device. HiYou will ask for access to its private Google Drive app-data storage.
- On iPhone, sign in to iCloud and make sure iCloud Drive is available.
- Use a stable internet connection and make sure your cloud account has enough available storage.
Set up encrypted backup
- Open HiYou and go to Settings > Chats > Chat backup.
- Choose whether to enable Remember this device. This securely keeps the backup key on this device so automatic backups can run without asking for your recovery code.
- Tap Link Google account and back up, then choose your Google account and approve access.
- Save the 64-digit recovery code somewhere secure, then tap I've saved my recovery code.
- On the Chat backup screen, tap Back up now to create your first backup.
- Open HiYou and go to Settings > Chats > Chat backup.
- Choose whether to enable Remember this device. This securely keeps the backup key in this iPhone's Keychain so automatic backups can run.
- Tap Back up to iCloud.
- Save the 64-digit recovery code somewhere secure, then tap I've saved my recovery code.
- On the Chat backup screen, tap Back up now to create your first backup.
The recovery code is shown only once. HiYou does not store it in readable form and cannot recover or reset it for you. Anyone who has both your cloud backup and recovery code may be able to restore your history, so do not share the code.
Check or update your backup
Return to Settings > Chats > Chat backup to see the backup destination and the time of the last successful backup. Tap Back up now whenever you want to replace the cloud copy with your latest local history.
When Remember this device is enabled, HiYou can also attempt automatic background backups. The operating system decides exactly when background work runs, so check Last backup before changing or resetting your phone.
Turning off backup stops future automatic backups and removes the saved key from that device. It does not delete the backup already stored in Google Drive or iCloud. Keep your recovery code if you may want to restore it later.
Restore a backup
- On the Android device, use the same Google account that holds the backup, then sign in to the same HiYou account.
- When HiYou reports that a backup was found, tap Restore chats.
- Enter the 64-digit recovery code and tap Restore chats.
- Keep HiYou open while it verifies, downloads, decrypts, and imports the backup.
- On the iPhone, sign in to the same iCloud account that holds the backup, then sign in to the same HiYou account.
- When HiYou reports that an iCloud backup was found, tap Restore chats.
- Enter the 64-digit recovery code and tap Restore.
- Keep HiYou open while it verifies, downloads, decrypts, and imports the backup.
The restore offer appears during sign-in when HiYou finds a backup. You can skip it, but the sign-in flow will continue without importing that history. If the code is rejected, check all 64 digits and make sure you selected the cloud account that contains the backup.