Whatsapp Messenger – Restore chat history
A new cell phone always means a lot of set-up effort. Often followed by the question “How can I restore old WhatsApp chats on my new phone?”. We show how the effort can be kept to a minimum and the WhatsApp move can be successful. In most cases, not only the contacts but also the chats, videos, and pictures can be retained – both with iOS and with the Google Android operating system.
In order to transfer WhatsApp chats to the new mobile phone, it is first of all necessary to know what the initial situation is. This is because the process differs depending on whether the operating system changes from iOS to Android or vice versa with the change of cell phone and whether the cell phone number also changes when the smartphone is changed. Because even if the cell phone number changes, WhatsApp can keep the previous chats.
MOBILE PHONE CHANGE: TRANSFER WHATSAPP FROM ANDROID DEVICE TO ANDROID DEVICE
Switching from one Android phone to another is easy. To do this, the user has to create a WhatsApp backup on the old phone. To do this, you need to tap “Settings” on the WhatsApp menu (the three dots in the top right corner) on your old mobile phone. Then the sub-item Chats is selected and then “Chat backup”. The data of your own Google account should now be entered here. The required data is usually a Google email address. A WhatsApp backup will then be created in Google. You can use this to restore your WhatsApp chats later.
In further sub-items, you can enter further data for the backup. So you can choose whether videos should be backed up and only back up via WiFi. If such a WhatsApp backup has never been created, the process will take some time – also because the data has to be uploaded to the Google server via the Internet. All chat history is stored on Google Drive. Before you back up, however, you should know that messages and media backed up in Google Drive are not protected by WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption.
Whatsapp Messenger – Restore chat history
Now you can insert the SIM card into the new phone and use the Google Play Store to install the app on the new phone. WhatsApp will now ask for your cell phone number. After this verification has taken place and the Google account is logged into the new smartphone, it continues. Now the popular messenger on the new Android smartphone will offer to restore the backup. Important: The phone number must be identical, the backup must have been created beforehand and the Google account must be logged in. Now the WhatsApp backup will be downloaded from Google Drive and all WhatsApp chats including pictures will be transferred to the new phone. The actual Android contacts are restored via the Google account.
How does WhatsApp move work without Google Drive?
If both cell phones have an SD memory card slot, the restoration can also be transferred to the new smartphone via an SD card and a local backup. The backup must then be saved “locally”, a Google account and the transfer via the Internet via the Google Drive backup are not required to restore the WhatsApp chats.
Load WhatsApp backup: The step-by-step guide for Android
- On the old mobile phone in the WhatsApp menu on Settings> Chats> Chats-Backup tap on “Backup“. The backup should be transferred to Google Drive (messages and media).
- Insert the previous SIM in the new smartphone.
- Set up the Google account on the new Android device, download the WhatsApp software from the Play Store, install it, and verify your own number.
- Tap on “Restore“.
Then all WhatsApp messages as well as the media such as pictures, GIFs, and videos should be on your fresh smartphone.
MOBILE PHONE CHANGE: TRANSFER WHATSAPP FROM IPHONE TO IPHONE
A move using a memory card is not possible with the iPhone due to the lack of a memory card slot. The transfer of the old WhatsApp chats to the new iPhone is ideally done via iCloud. The internal memory can be used for a backup, but a transfer of your WhatsApp data is not necessarily successful.
The easiest way to move the old chats to the new iPhone is with iCloud. To do this, it is first necessary to create the backup on the old iPhone. Registration of the iOS device with an Apple ID is mandatory. In the messenger settings you have to go to “Chats”, then to “Chat backup” and then to “Create backup now”. Now the question is whether videos should also be part of a data backup. Depending on the size of the WhatsApp backup and the performance of the WiFi line, the transfer may take a while. Transmission via a cellular network and the use of mobile data are not recommended, as the monthly available data volume suffers here.
For phones with iOS 8 or later, iCloud Drive must be activated. This can be activated in the iPhone settings. With iOS 7 this point is called “Documents & Data”.
The old SIM card can now be inserted into the new iPhone. If the messenger app is now installed and your own mobile phone number is verified, the app offers to restore the backup from the iCloud. The previous WhatsApp account is now ready for use on the new iPhone.
Restore WhatsApp: The step-by-step guide iOS
- On the old mobile phone in the WhatsApp menu on Settings> Chats> Chats-Backup tap on “Create backup now”.
- Insert the previous SIM in the new iOS device.
- Install WhatsApp on the new Apple device and verify your own number.
- Tap on “Restore”. The data will now be transferred from online storage via the Internet. After the download, all WhatsApp chats are back.
TRANSFER WHATSAPP CHATS FROM ANDROID TO IPHONE OR FROM IPHONE TO ANDROID
WhatsApp does not offer the possibility to transfer chat histories and pictures from Android to an iPhone or from iPhone to Android. If you want to change the operating system, the WhatsApp messages are usually lost. This also applies if an old Windows Phone is still in use, for example. Only the transfer of the number is possible. To do this, it is sufficient to register the previous number on the new iPhone or Android smartphone from Huawei, Samsung & Co.
Whatsapp Messenger – Restore chat history
If you are attached to a certain chat history or need it to back up certain information, you can export selected chats in the settings menu under Chats, Chat history. This log can then be sent by email, for example, and thus saved, but not imported into the WhatsApp account.
NEW CELL PHONE, NEW NUMBER: THIS IS HOW WHATSAPP CHATS ARE RETAINED
It is even possible to transfer the chat histories to the new smartphone if the mobile number changes with the new mobile phone. For this, however, it is necessary that the previous WhatsApp with the old number still works. The first step on the old smartphone is to change the mobile number. There is also the “Change number” function in WhatsApp. It can be found in WhatsApp settings.
In order for the change of the phone number for an existing account to work, the new phone number must already be able to receive SMS. The new SIM card does not necessarily have to be in the old mobile phone. It is also possible to enter the data from the SMS manually. To change the phone number, the old mobile phone number and the new phone number must be entered. The SMS then comes with a verification code. The old telephone number can already be deactivated for this step; Internet access via WLAN is sufficient. But the old phone is essential.
Will WhatsApp contacts know my new phone number?
Important: Each individual contact must be informed individually about the new number. Otherwise, you will disappear from the friends’ contact list and you will not be able to be reached via WhatsApp via the old number. WhatsApp messages are only possible for the new mobile number. All members of the group are only informed of the new number in group chats.
If the phone number is changed, the entire WhatsApp data can be restored on the new mobile phone as described above. Here too, however, the following applies: If you change the smartphone’s operating system, you have no way of taking over the chats. Incidentally, it is advisable to set up an automatic backup directly on the new mobile phone. This means that there is always a backup file even if the smartphone is lost.
