WhatsApp and Google Drive Integration: Technical Challenges and Solutions - Google I/O 2016

Explore the behind-the-scenes collaboration between WhatsApp and Google Drive in this 42-minute Google I/O 2016 conference talk. Discover the technical challenges faced and solutions implemented to enable WhatsApp users to back up their chat history to Google Drive, preserving irreplaceable memories when switching devices. Learn about the key Drive APIs involved and how developers can leverage them in their own applications. Gain insights into mobile adoption, content generation, messaging trends, and cloud storage considerations. Examine the architecture, backup and restore processes, HTTP libraries, and performance reliability measures implemented. Understand the importance of reliability, error handling, and strategic rollout across data centers. Witness the growth of Drive API usage and its potential for creating versatile applications. Conclude with a demonstration of the backup feature in action.

Intro
Agenda
Mobile adoption
Content generation
Messaging
WhatsApp user base
WhatsApp media
Cloud storage
File types
Our joint mission
Why Google Drive
How it works
Backups optin
Restore in WhatsApp
Restore animations
Architecture overview
Architecture diagram
Backups
Restore Flow
HTTP Libraries
Backup Window
Android Users
Challenges
Provisioning
Models
Performance Reliability
Reliability is important
Class of errors
Rollout
Graph of queries
Data centers
Paused rollout
Drive API
Apps that do everything
Drive API growth
Backup demo