--- title: "When an associate leaves the firm with the WhatsApp number: protecting client history" description: "If client chats live on one person's phone, they can walk out the door with them. How a law firm keeps a copy of client WhatsApp history it controls, before anyone leaves." canonical: "https://kaptionai.com/blog/en/associate-leaves-law-firm-whatsapp-client-history/" lang: "en" --- # When an associate leaves the firm with the WhatsApp number: protecting client history > If client chats live on one person's phone, they can walk out the door with them. How a law firm keeps a copy of client WhatsApp history it controls, before anyone leaves. Canonical: https://kaptionai.com/blog/en/associate-leaves-law-firm-whatsapp-client-history/ An associate handles a family-law client for two years, mostly on WhatsApp. Then the associate moves to another firm. The number was on their own phone. The client history went with it: the dates, the voice notes about the children's schedule, the photos of the agreement. This happens in firms of every size, with associates, paralegals and assistants. This guide explains how to keep a copy of client WhatsApp history that stays with the firm. The time to set it up is before anyone leaves. *Updated November 2026* ## Why the history leaves with the person A WhatsApp account belongs to a phone number. Whoever holds the SIM and the phone holds the chats. WhatsApp's own backup goes to that person's iCloud or Google Drive. The firm has no copy and no way to read the conversations without the phone. So the questions to answer early are simple: - Whose number do clients write to? - Where does a readable copy of those chats live? - Who holds the key to open it? ## Step 1: Put client work on a number the firm owns Where you can, clients should write to a number the firm controls, not to someone's personal phone. That is a policy decision, not a software one, and it does most of the work. The [Kaption desktop app for Mac and Windows](/desktop/) can keep several WhatsApp numbers side by side. An associate can have the firm's client number and their personal number in one app, kept apart. ## Step 2: Keep an encrypted copy in a firm folder [Kaption Backups](/backups/) keeps one encrypted backup file of the WhatsApp chats in a folder you choose. Pick a folder in the firm's Google Drive, OneDrive or iCloud Drive. That service syncs the file like any other document, and the firm's own sharing settings decide who can reach it. The backup includes every chat on the account: messages, contacts, groups, labels and voice-note transcripts. Messages deleted after they were backed up stay in the backup. On paid plans it updates every hour and includes photos, videos, voice notes and documents. On every plan you can export a backup by hand. Kaption does not sign in to the cloud drive, and Kaption's servers never receive the file. ## Step 3: The firm holds the password The backup is locked with a password (at least 10 characters). Nobody, not even Kaption, can open it without it, and it can't be recovered. That makes the password the real key to the client history. Set it when the backup is created and store it in the firm's password manager, not only in the associate's head. If the person who set it leaves and nobody else has it, the firm can't open the file. ## Step 4: When someone leaves If the backup was set up this way, the history doesn't leave with them: - The backup file stays in the firm's folder. - Anyone with access to the folder and the password can open it in Kaption on another computer, read-only, and search it. - The viewer shows every chat in the backup, with voice-note transcripts and, on paid plans, documents and media. Kaption backups are view-only. They don't move the chats into a new phone or another WhatsApp account. For client follow-up, the new handler reads the history in the backup and continues the conversation from the firm's number. Kaption can't recover chats that were never backed up. If a person left before a backup existed, the copy isn't there. ## What to decide as a firm Software won't settle these questions, so settle them in writing: - Which numbers clients may use, and who owns them. - Who can open the backup folder, and who holds the password. - What happens to the backup and its access when someone joins or leaves. - What personal chats, if any, sit on a firm number, and how you handle them. Employment, privacy and professional rules on these points vary by country. Check your bar's and your local rules, and take advice where you need it. This article is not legal advice. ## More for law firms - [WhatsApp for lawyers: everything Kaption does for a law practice](/whatsapp-for-lawyers/) - [WhatsApp backup for lawyers: an encrypted, searchable copy of client chats](/blog/en/whatsapp-backup-for-lawyers-encrypted-searchable-client-chats/) - [How to keep a complete, searchable record of client WhatsApp messages](/blog/en/keep-a-record-of-client-whatsapp-messages-for-lawyers/) - [A WhatsApp checklist for law firms](/blog/en/whatsapp-checklist-for-law-firms/) ## FAQ ### Can we get client chats back after an associate leaves with the phone? Only if a backup was made before. If the chats were backed up with Kaption to a firm folder, anyone with the folder and the password can open and search them. Kaption can't recover chats that were never backed up. ### Can we move the chats from the backup into a new WhatsApp account? No. Kaption backups are view-only. You can read and search them on a computer, but not restore them into WhatsApp. ### Who can open the backup? Anyone who can reach the folder and knows the password. Share the password only with the people who should see the chats. ### Can one person use the firm number and a personal number? Yes. The Kaption desktop app for Mac and Windows keeps several WhatsApp numbers side by side.