Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp has confirmed it is rolling out one of its most requested features — the ability to transfer chats between Android and iOS. This feature has been anticipated by so many users for a while now, especially users who simplify move accounts between an Android and an iOS phone. Before now if users wanted to switch from an iPhone to Android or vice versa, users have no option but to forego all the chat history or simply depend on third-party apps. The use of third-party apps violates WhatsApp’s terms of service or complicated workarounds that make it a risky and arduous exercise. WhatsApp announces this new feature that lets users transfer chat history between iPhone and Android at the Samsung Unpacked event.
This new feature would permit the ability to move the entire WhatsApp chat history, this includes voice notes, photos, and conversations in a simple, secure and convenient way if you choose to switch mobile operating systems. It has been impossible in the past to transfer chat history between Android and iOS devices because WhatsApp backups on Android are stored on Google Cloud, and WhatsApp on iOS uses iCloud. Somehow Whatsapp developers have been able to delight users with the ability to switch between the platforms of their choice. One of the reasons people get worried while trying to switching from one platform to other is the WhatsApp chat history. I mean you never know when you want to refer to previous chats. On a related note, the company is also working on multi-device support. With the multi-device support, you can open and use multiple instances of WhatsApp without depending on iPhone to sync.
Notably, while the process of shifting chat history before now has been deemed complicated or near impossible using third-party apps, the company had to fix it by providing this simpler solution. As of right now, Samsung smartphones will be the first to match compatibility with the chat transfer feature to iPhones. Although, we only expect the feature to also be available for more iOS and Android devices sometime in the near future. Transferring chat history from an iOS device to a Samsung Galaxy device will require using the latter’s Smart Switch app. Smart Switch lets you migrate files, messages, calendars, accounts, and settings from various Android and iOS smartphones and tablets to Samsung devices using a wired or wireless connection. However, users currently still have the responsibility to back up their WhatsApp chats on the old device and simply redownload them on the new device.
With the new feature by Whatsapp, users can move WhatsApp history along with everything else in Smart Switch. To do this, you will have to connect your old iPhone with the new Samsung device via a USB-C to Lightning cable and launch Smart Switch. You will then be prompted to scan a QR code on the old phone with your new phone and to export your WhatsApp history. To finalize the migration, you must sign into WhatsApp on the new device and import the messages.
Olagoke Ajibola is a creative writer and content producer with an eye for details and excellence. He has a demonstrated history of telling stories for TV, Film and Online. Aside from being fascinated by the power of imagination, his other interest are travel, sport, reading and meeting people.
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