How to prepare for messaging app blocks and not lose important data: Practical tips

What can you do to avoid losing conversations, documents, photos, and contacts if the messaging app you use gets blocked?

1. Save Your Chat History with All Files
   The most important step is to export your conversations while messaging apps are still working. They often store not only text messages, but also important documents, photos, voice messages, and videos.

For Telegram, this is the easiest:

• Open the desired chat.
  • Tap the contact name or group title at the top.
  • Select “More” → “Export chat history.”
  • Choose what you want to save (text, photos, videos, documents, etc.).
  • Specify the time range and destination folder.
  • Click “Export.”

You can export individual chats or all your data at once.

For WhatsApp, there is also an export feature (for individual chats, with or without media), although it is slightly less convenient. Detailed instructions can be found in official guides.

2. Save Your Contacts
   Neither WhatsApp nor Telegram offers a convenient built-in way to bulk export messenger contacts. If a contact exists only within the app and is not saved in your phone’s address book, it can easily be lost.

The most reliable method is to manually save important contacts to your phone.

There is also an alternative option in Telegram:

• Go to Settings → Advanced → Export Telegram Data.
  • Select “Personal chats” in the export settings.
  • Start the export.

This way, along with chat history, you will also get a list of people you’ve communicated with. It’s also a convenient way to save all photos, documents, and other files from all chats at once.

3. Share New Contact Details in Advance
   Inform important people (family, friends, colleagues, partners) of your alternative contact details ahead of time: phone number, a new messaging app, email, or social media profile. It’s best to share this information through multiple channels to ensure it reaches them.
4. Choose a Suitable Alternative Messaging App
   When choosing an alternative, consider not only interface convenience, encryption, and features, but also how quickly your contacts are willing to switch. Even the best messaging app is useless if none of your contacts are there.

Some of the most popular options currently include:

• Signal (strong encryption)
  • Viber
  • VK Messenger
  • Telegram (if it continues to work via proxy or VPN)
  • Other regional services

Many users create a “backup airfield” across several apps at once.

In Brief
To prepare for possible messaging app blocks, you need not only to find alternatives but also to save all important information in advance. Export your chat history in Telegram (including files and media), save contacts via data export or manually, and share your new contact details with important people ahead of time. The key is to act now, while apps are still working reliably — the earlier you do this, the lower the risk of losing conversations and documents at a critical moment.