WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app around the world, allowing users to communicate via text messages, voice and video calls. The app is also famous for its ability to transfer files over the network, which can be useful when collaborating on work projects or sharing photos and videos with friends and family.
The ability to move chat history from one device to another is important for anyone that owns more than one iPhone, Android smartphone or other mobile phone. But until recently, the process for doing so was complicated, requiring multiple apps or a USB cable.
That changed when WhatsApp launched a new feature that allows you to move your chat history between two devices running the same OS. The service rolled out the update earlier this year to beta testers and is now available to everyone that uses WhatsApp, as long as you’re using an iOS device or an Android phone that runs the latest version of the operating system.
It’s a great way to get acquainted with your new phone or tablet, or to get settled in if you’re switching from an older iPhone to a newer version of the iPhone operating system. The feature works by automatically transferring your WhatsApp backup to your new device, allowing you to instantly restore your messages, settings and group info. It’s a lot easier and more convenient than relying on third-party apps or a wired connection, and it’s much less of a hassle than Apple’s iMessage feature, which requires users to have both an iPhone and an iCloud account.
There is, however, a slight catch. Because WhatsApp backups are stored on the operating system and not in the cloud, the feature can only be used for transferring between two devices of the same type. Basically, it’s not going to be possible to use this feature to migrate from Android to iPhone or vice versa. There are some other ways to transfer chat histories between different systems, but they require a third-party program that is not officially supported by WhatsApp.
For instance, you can use a tool such as Mobitrix to transfer your chat histories between iPhone and Android. But these tools are not perfect and will only give you partial results. There are also a few other unofficial ways to transfer chat histories between smartphones, including SIM backup and email export. These methods, however, are not as reliable as WhatsApp’s own solution and they can be risky, especially if your old phone has been wiped clean. That said, we’re hopeful that WhatsApp will streamline its process of transferring chat data between different devices in the future. It’s definitely time for that to happen. In the meantime, you can learn more about WhatsApp’s new chat history transfer feature here. What do you think about the feature? Do you prefer it over competing services such as iMessage? Let us know in the comments below.