This won't work with WhatsApp because since they do not store your messages in plaintext.
I had to use some unofficial software ( https://www.wazzapmigrator.com/ ) to extract and store the messages from an unencrypted iPhone backup. Then you have everything in an sqlite file.
I was just looking through my google drive and there's no trace of my whatsapp chat backups. Even after running another backup. And pages online confirm what you're saying.
I guess I'll have to use my GDPR rights.
Interestingly enough, there only is the possibility of exporting account information info, but the information page about that procedure explicitly says that messages are not included.
That's relevant because since there's no other procedure to export data, this means that Whatsapp is already not okay with GDPR procedures.
Facebook doesn't hold your chat data. As soon as message reaches recipient(s) it is deleted. That's why Whatsapp nags you every year about making a google drive backup (it archives data from your phone to drive, not sends it from its servers to drive). So no GDPR could resurrect your chats and it is not violation because they don't have such data.
The right to easily export your data still applies, Facebook has my messages on my phone storage and I should be able to easily export them without third party solutions.
The GDPR asks for more than access, it also mandates an easy export. I have recently learned that this feature is actually implemented on a chat by chat basis.
Personally I would like a global export option too, but I am not going to die on that hill.
>this means that Whatsapp is already not okay with GDPR procedures.
No it doesn't, the data is local to your phone and not in their systems or servers. So you already have your data on a device you control. GDPR is not about local data inter-op.
that's not why i want to export the data though in my case - i want to export it as a backup that doesn't depend on the continued existence of whatsapp.
If e.g: MSN messenger had the same strategy, you would one day find yourself without the ability to backup your messages.
not everybody values past conversations the same way - but i have a few that have emotional value to me and don't want to lose them if e.g: my phone gets stolen or whatsapp loses popularity and shuts down one day.
edit to add: the automatic backups IIRC are unencrypted. I don't appreciate google having that. Why can't i choose my own backup target if the functionality exists?
I had to use some unofficial software ( https://www.wazzapmigrator.com/ ) to extract and store the messages from an unencrypted iPhone backup. Then you have everything in an sqlite file.