Whatsapp is going to delete your chat archive unless you take immediate action.

The chat app wants to encourage Android users to back up their message log to Google Drive, so will soon delete any posts that are unarchived.

Which seems a bit harsh, you might think.

But luckily there’s a simple way of making sure Whatsapp doesn’t get rid of all those cherished missives from your mum, friends and lovers. Just back it up to Google Drive.

To do this, open up Whatsapp’s setting pages, which you access by tapping the three dots icon in the top right of the screen.

Then select the ‘Chat’ option and open up ‘Chat backup’. If you have a Google Drive account (which you’ll already own if you started up a Gmail address or signed up for another Google service you can then select it by opening up ‘account’.

You’ll then be able to select your Google Drive account. Whatsapp will automatically perform backups unless you press the big ‘backup’ button to do it manually.

Press allow and your messages will be backed up to Google Drive henceforth. There are also a few supplementary options you can choose. If you tick the ‘wifi’ option, your messages will be backed up only when you’re connected to wifi, whereas the ‘wifi or cellular’ will backup using your mobile connection.

There’s also an option to save video messages, but beware: doing those using your mobile internet will eat up your data. Apple users are already able to save their messages to iCloud.