---
title: "Automatic hourly WhatsApp backups: how they work"
description: "Kaption can update an encrypted backup of your WhatsApp chats every hour, adding only what changed. How it runs, what it needs, and what each plan includes."
canonical: "https://kaptionai.com/blog/en/automatic-hourly-whatsapp-backups-how-they-work/"
lang: "en"
---

# Automatic hourly WhatsApp backups: how they work

> Kaption can update an encrypted backup of your WhatsApp chats every hour, adding only what changed. How it runs, what it needs, and what each plan includes.

Canonical: https://kaptionai.com/blog/en/automatic-hourly-whatsapp-backups-how-they-work/

WhatsApp backs up your phone once a day, once a week or once a month, depending on your setting. If you lose the phone at 6 p.m., everything since the last backup is gone with it.

Kaption can keep an encrypted backup of your WhatsApp chats current every hour, from your computer. This article explains how that works, what it needs to keep running, and what each plan includes.

*Updated November 2026*

## The short version

[Kaption Backups](/backups/) keeps **one password-encrypted backup file** in a folder you choose. With continuous backups on, Kaption checks every hour and **adds only what changed**: new messages, edits, deletions and new media. If nothing changed, nothing is written.

It works in WhatsApp Web with the Kaption extension for Chrome and Edge, and in the [Kaption desktop app for Mac and Windows](/desktop/).

## How an hourly run works

1. **The first backup** reads every chat of the account and writes the file. On a big account, it can take a while. It runs in the background and continues where it stopped.
2. **Every hour after that,** Kaption adds what is new or changed to the same file. A new message is added. An edited message keeps its latest version. A deleted message stays in the file, marked "Deleted in WhatsApp".
3. **Nothing is ever dropped.** The file keeps growing with your history.

Because only the new part is added, a cloud app syncing the folder (iCloud Drive, Google Drive or OneDrive) mostly has the new part to move, not the whole file.

You can also press **Back up now** at any time. The status card then shows the progress, and when it ends, "Backed up just now" with the file size.

## What it needs to keep running

Hourly backups run while Kaption is running:

- **In Chrome or Edge,** while WhatsApp Web is open with the Kaption extension. Continuous backups need extension version 0.94.7 or later.
- **In the desktop app,** while the app is open.

Two things can pause it:

- **Folder access.** After a browser restart, Chrome or Edge may ask once more before Kaption can write to the folder. Choose **Allow access** and backups continue.
- **The folder itself.** If it is on an external drive that is unplugged, or the disk is full, the run can't write. Kaption tells you why on the Backups card.

So this is close to automatic, but not "set and forget". Glance at the Backups card now and then. It shows when the last backup ran.

## What each plan includes

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr><th></th><th>Every plan, including Free</th><th>Paid plans</th></tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr><td>Export now (one-off backup file)</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Backup viewer with search</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Messages, contacts, groups, labels</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Voice-note transcripts</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Hourly continuous backups</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Photos, videos, voice notes, documents</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Pro and Business include hourly backups with media. Check [pricing](/pricing/) for what your plan includes today.

## The password, once

You set the backup password when you set up continuous backups. It must be at least 10 characters. Kaption's servers never receive the file or the password. Nobody, not even Kaption, can open the backup without it, and there is no recovery.

You don't type the password for each hourly run. You type it to open the backup.

## Reading what was backed up

Choose **View backup**. The backup opens read-only in a new tab, laid out like WhatsApp, with search across every chat and [voice-note transcript](/whatsapp-voice-notes-to-text/), and filters for groups, media and transcripts.

To see the steps from the start, read [how to back up WhatsApp Web chats on your computer](/blog/en/how-to-back-up-whatsapp-web-chats-on-your-computer/).

## FAQ

### How often does Kaption back up WhatsApp?

With continuous backups on, every hour while Kaption is running, on paid plans. You can also press Back up now at any time.

### Does every hourly backup make a new file?

No. Kaption adds what changed to the same file. If nothing changed, nothing is written.

### Do backups run when my computer is off?

No. They run while WhatsApp Web is open with the extension, or while the desktop app is running. The next run continues where the last one stopped.

### Can I get hourly backups on Free?

No. On Free you can use Export now whenever you want a backup file. Hourly backups are part of paid plans.

### Does it restore my chats to WhatsApp?

No. Kaption backups are view-only, for reading and searching your history.