There will soon no longer be any stress over WhatsApp if you’re looking to jump from Android to a new iPhone after being confirmed by the company’s CEO.
The Meta-owned instant messaging app is set to allow users to transfer their data from their Android smartphones to iPhones after previously only supporting a switch from iOS to Android.
The long-anticipated function now means all data backed up in a cloud drive like Google Drive or iCloud can directly be transferred to either iOS or Android on a new device without losing any data backed up before switching.
The update to WhatsApp is expected to allow Android users to backup chats and media such as photos, videos and voice notes and, after that, carry this data over to the version of the app for iPhones.
The feature was first speculated on WhatsApp update and reporting blog, WABetaInfo, almost a year ago when rumours suggested that support for wider ‘Chat History Migration’ would be introduced to a small group of beta testers of the app.
“We mentioned that the Move to iOS app will be needed to complete the migration. When the migration is completed, it’s needed to finish the process on the new phone,” WABetaInfo said.
So significant is the introduction of the feature that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to his other Meta property, Facebook, to make the announcement.
“We’re adding to WhatsApp the ability to securely switch between phones and transfer your chat history, photos, videos, and voice messages between Android and iPhone while maintaining end-to-end encryption.
“This is a top requested feature. We launched the ability to switch from iPhone–>Android last year, and now adding Android–>iPhone as well,“ Zuckerberg said in his post.
It has also been reported that the transfer process will only work on new iPhones or devices which have been factory reset. Once this fresh version of WhatsApp is active on the new iOS device, there will reportedly be an option to move data from Android in the early stages of set-up.
If you have previously used an iPhone and already have data backed up, switching WhatsApp data from an Android smartphone to iOS will overwrite previously-stored iPhone data.
If you’re looking to move from Android to iOS and need to keep your WhatsApp chat history, make sure you follow these steps before you switch:
1. Make sure your Google account is activated on your Android smartphone by going into ‘Settings’ and then ‘Accounts’
2. Next, open WhatsApp, tap more options, go ‘Settings’, tap ‘Chats’, then ‘Chat backup’ and select ‘Back up to Google Drive’
3. Select any backup option except ‘Never’
4. Choose the Google account to back up your chat history
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