WhatsApp has seen outstanding success since its release in 2009, and it continues to grow and boom.
This year (2022), WhatsApp is THE most used Messenger app, above even WeChat and Facebook Messenger (source: Statistica)
So when you get a new phone, how do you take all these precious conversations with you? You don't want to start afresh and lose all those memories, so let's see how to take your WhatsApp messages with you wherever you go, whatever device you have!
Before we get into how to transfer WhatsApp messages to a new phone, let's see how to backup iPhone WhatsApp messages to your computer. This is essential if you want to save messages as PDF to send to somebody, or if you need to print out a WhatsApp conversation. You can do all of this and more with TouchCopy - let's see how:
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WhatsApp have kindly provided all the tools you need to be able to do this.
First, create a backup of your WhatsApp messages, then restore the backup to your new device. Easy, right? Let's see how:
Great! You now have a backup of your WhatsApp conversations stored in your Google Drive. Next, you'll need to restore this backup on your new phone.
How to restore WhatsApp chats to new phone:
Transferring WhatsApp messages from iPhone to iPhone is very similar to the Android method above, except that you'll back up to iCloud rather than to Google Drive.
Step 1: First of all, make sure that you're signed into iCloud on your iPhone, and that WhatsApp has permissions to use iCloud:
Step 2: Now you're all set up to backup WhatsApp chats to iCloud:
Step 3: Great! So, your WhatsApp chats are safely backed up in your iCloud. Now is time to transfer WhatsApp messages to your new iPhone. Grab your new iPhone and let's get started:
If you're switching from Android to iPhone, you'll need to use the "Move to iOS" app, as you cannot do this using the WhatsApp app alone. To be able to use Move to iOS, your iPhone must be new (not set up yet) or has been factory reset.
To do this, you'll need:
Let's see how to transfer WhatsApp from Android to iPhone:
Let's finally take a look at how to transfer WhatsApp from iPhone to Android. Like method 4, this will require the Android device to be factory new, or reset to factory settings.
To do this, you'll need:
Let's see how to transfer WhatsApp from iPhone to Android:
If your new device is a Samsung, you may alternatively wish to use Samsung's own transfer app, Smart Switch, to migrate from iPhone to Samsung.
Publisher: Wide Angle Software
Read Next: How to Print out Text and WhatsApp Messages >
Home How To How to transfer your old WhatsApp chats to your new phone
You can back your chats up on Android and iOS and restore them on your new device when you change phones.
Here's how you do it.
Shifting to a new phone has been made relatively hassle-free but a few things often get left behind in older devices, particularly text messages if we forget to back them up.
WhatsApp has a solution to back all messages up so you can carry them to your new phone. Given how popular the messaging app is and that it's used by almost all people, it's important to know how to transfer your old chats to your new device.
WhatsApp chats have not only important contacts and information at times, but also media attachments that might be important for you to carry over to your new device. The easiest way to transfer chats is to back them up on Google Cloud or iCloud and then restore them on your new phone.
For Android devices
To transfer old chats to your new phone, you need to open WhatsApp on your old phone and tap on the three dots on the top right corner of the screen.
- Go to Settings and then click on ‘Chats'.
- Click on ‘Chats backup' next.
Here you can pick whether you want to backup your chats manually or automatically (weekly, monthly etc).
Backing chats up manually will have WhatsApp creating a backup on Google Drive that very moment. The next time you want a backup you will have to do this whole thing again. If you choose to do it automatically, WhatsApp will backup your chats weekly or monthly as you have chosen without you having to do anything.
Now when you load WhatsApp on your new phone it will prompt you to recover your old chats and media from Google Drive.
It is advisable that you backup the chats on your old phone before you start using WhatsApp on the new phone. That way you can pick up exactly where you left off.
For iPhones
For iPhones the process of backing up chats on WhatsApp is just as easy.
- Go to your Apple ID and turn on iCloud if you do not have it on.
- Now open WhatsApp and go to Settings.
- Click on ‘Chats' and then click on ‘Chat Backup'.
Here too you can pick between manually backing it up or automatically letting it happen weekly or monthly. You also get an option to include or exclude videos in this case.
Now when you get WhatsApp on your new device, you will be prompted to restore old chats from the iCloud.
Important note - If you are moving from iOS to Android or vice versa, you will not be able to restore your old chats on the new device since iOS won't restore it from Google Drive and Android doesn't have access to the iCloud.
What do you do if you don't want to save chats on the cloud?
If you do not want to save your chats on Google Drive, there is another option to backup chats and restore them.
- Connect your phone to your laptop/PC with a USB cable.
- Go to the WhatsApp database in the internal memory on your device.
- Search for backup files that display saved date.
- Copy these files to your system.
- When you get WhatsApp on your new phone, copy the retrieved file to your new smartphone's databases folder.
If there is no such folder, you can just make one.
- Now you can open the WhatsApp app on your phone, and it will show a notification that states that a message backup has been found.
- Tap on ‘restore'.
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First Published Date: 14 Jul, 13:01 IST
Tags: whatsapp whatsapp for android whatsapp for ios
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When buying a new smartphone, WhatsApp users often have problems transferring chats.
The program interface cannot be called intuitive, but the developers have provided several ways to save old dialogs.
All users are advised to set up a backup when starting the messenger for the first time. This option periodically saves all chats along with files on the user's device or in the cloud. The last storage location is preferable, because smartphones and tablets often break down and because of this, access to data can be lost forever.
The chat migration method depends on the operating system and the user's preferred way of working with files. You can send a backup to cloud storage or to external media (SD card).
Most Android users prefer to transfer copies of conversations via Google Drive. This method is very convenient, because you do not need to copy files manually. The new backup is automatically uploaded to the cloud. In order to transfer chats from an old phone to a new one, you need:
On iOS devices, copying the conversation history is done through iCloud. The user uploads a backup copy of data from WhatsApp from the old device to the cloud storage, and then automatically after authorization on the new smartphone, the information is copied to the messenger. In order to use this method, you must:
Messenger backups are created with reference to numbers. If the user has several accounts, he can upload their backups to one cloud storage and then restore them one by one.
There is no official way to transfer WhatsApp backup from Android to iOS. But you can use the AppTrans program. It needs to be installed on the computer. Further procedure:
The official method is only available for owners of Samsung smartphones and tablets. You need to download Samsung SmartSwitch to your computer.
Further procedure:
Smartphones on Windows Phone are quite rare, but even on them you can backup WhatsApp chats and transfer them to Android. But to do this is much more difficult than in the case of other operating systems. In order to copy the history of correspondence, you need:
There you need to activate Engine Unlock and Interop Unlock. Direct transfer of information to a PC will not work. WhatsApp does not have this option. But you can send a backup copy of your data to a computer.
To do this:
Kristina Gorbunovaauthor
When buying a new smartphone, WhatsApp users often have problems transferring chats.
The program interface cannot be called intuitive, but the developers have provided several ways to save old dialogs.
All users are advised to set up a backup when starting the messenger for the first time. This option periodically saves all chats along with files on the user's device or in the cloud. The last storage location is preferable, because smartphones and tablets often break down and because of this, access to data can be lost forever.
The chat migration method depends on the operating system and the user's preferred way of working with files. You can send a backup to cloud storage or to external media (SD card).
Most Android users prefer to transfer copies of conversations via Google Drive. This method is very convenient, because you do not need to copy files manually. The new backup is automatically uploaded to the cloud. In order to transfer chats from an old phone to a new one, you need:
On iOS devices, copying the conversation history is done through iCloud. The user uploads a backup copy of data from WhatsApp from the old device to the cloud storage, and then automatically after authorization on the new smartphone, the information is copied to the messenger. In order to use this method, you need:
Messenger backups are created with reference to numbers. If the user has several accounts, he can upload their backups to one cloud storage and then restore them one by one.
There is no official way to transfer WhatsApp backup from Android to iOS. But you can use the AppTrans program. It needs to be installed on the computer. Further procedure:
The official method is only available for owners of Samsung smartphones and tablets. You need to download Samsung SmartSwitch to your computer.
Further procedure:
Smartphones on Windows Phone are quite rare, but even on them you can backup WhatsApp chats and transfer them to Android. But to do this is much more difficult than in the case of other operating systems. In order to copy the history of correspondence, you need:
There you need to activate Engine Unlock and Interop Unlock. Direct transfer of information to a PC will not work. WhatsApp does not have this option. But you can send a backup copy of your data to a computer.