How to Transfer old WhatsApp chats to your new Phone

Transfer old WhatsApp chats to your new Phone

This is the age of internet messaging where all you need is a decent internet connection and an app installed on your device, and you can virtually do anything! Free chatting apps are an extremely convenient means of communication because a. they are free and b. you can text anyone and everyone using the same app irrespective of where they are. Among all the chatting apps available in the market, there is hardly any app as popular as WhatsApp.

It is free, simple, and extremely easy to use. Apart from texting, additional features like voice calling, video calling, conference calling, sharing images, videos, documents, files, sending location and contacts, and a lot more make WhatsApp extremely useful and an inseparable part of modern communications. The best thing about WhatsApp is that it is easy to pick up and therefore it has been able to expand its user base to the old and not so tech-savvy generation. Irrespective of your age or technical prowess, you can use WhatsApp. As a result, people from all walks of life and socio-economic backgrounds have flocked to WhatsApp.

How to Transfer old WhatsApp chats to your new Phone

Almost all of our conversations take place on WhatsApp. As a result, there are hundreds and even thousands of messages on our WhatsApp. Now, you wouldn’t want to lose these chats, messages, and media files while you are switching handsets.

A lot of Android users are worried about transferring their data to a new phone. Thankfully, Android and WhatsApp have a very well-functioning backup system in place. This ensures that you never lose any chats while upgrading to a new phone. In fact, it even restores any media file that was shared via WhatsApp. In this article, we are going to discuss the various ways to transfer old WhatsApp chats to your new phone.

Method 1: Backup Messages using Google Drive

If you are using a new and updated version of WhatsApp, then it most certainly has Google Drive integration for backing up your messages and media files. All that you need is a Google Account linked to Google Drive, and it will automatically take care of chat backups. It is the simplest way to transfer your messages to your new phone. When you install WhatsApp on your new device and log in with your account, it will automatically prompt you to restore messages that are saved on the cloud. Follow the steps given below to make sure that backup to Google Drive is enabled:

1. Firstly, open WhatsApp on your phone.

2. Now tap on the three-dot menu option on the top-right corner of the screen.

3. Select Settings from the drop-down menu.

4. Here, tap on the Chats option and then select the Chat backup option.

   

5. Now, under Google Drive Settings, make sure that a Google Account is linked.

6. If not then simply tap on the Google Account option, and it will show a list of Google Accounts to which your device is logged in. Select an account that you would like to save your chat backups to.

   

7. You can also change the Backup settings and set it to automatically backup at regular intervals. It could be after a day, week, or a month.

8. If you want videos received on WhatsApp to be backed up as well, then you need to simply enable the toggle switch next to it.

9. Once all these settings are in place; you can rest assured that your messages will get easily transferred to a new phone.

10. When you install WhatsApp on your new phone, you will automatically be prompted to restore your messages and media files from Google Drive. The messages will appear almost instantly, and you can start using the app. Media files, however, will take a bit longer, and they will continue to get downloaded in the background.

Method 2: Manually Backup Chats using Local Storage

Although the Google Drive method is simple and convenient, it consumes a lot of data. Additionally, this feature is not available on an old Android device using an old version of WhatsApp. If you have a limited internet connection and cannot afford to waste a lot of data in uploading and then again downloading the chats, then you can also manually copy the backup files from the local storage of one device to the new device. To force WhatsApp to store the chats on your local storage you need to make sure that no Google Account is linked to it. Once that is done, follow the steps given below to learn how to manually backup chats and messages:

1. The first thing that you need to do is open WhatsApp and go to Settings by tapping on the three-dot menu.

2. Here, go to Chats and then select the Chat backup option.

   

3. Now tap on the Green Backup button.

4. If you don’t have any Google Account linked to your WhatsApp, then the app will create a backup file and save it on your local storage in the Database folder of WhatsApp.

5. You simply need to locate this file and copy it to your new phone.

6. To do so, connect your device to a computer via a USB cable and open the Internal Memory drive of your Android smartphone.

7. Here, go to the WhatsApp folder and then select the Database option.

8. You will find a lot of files with the name of “msgstore-2020-09-16.db.crypt12”.

9. Look for the one with the latest date of creation and copy it to your computer.

10. Now on your new phone, install WhatsApp but do not open it.

11. Connect your new device to your computer and copy this message to restore the file to the WhatsApp>>Database folder. If the folder is not present, then you will have to create one.

12. Once the backup file has been copied, launch the app, and wait for a few seconds. WhatsApp will automatically detect the message backup and send a notification for the same.

13. Simply tap on the Restore button, and your messages will be downloaded on the new phone.

That’s how you can easily transfer your old WhatsApp chats to new your Phone. But what if you use an iPhone? Is the process the same? Well, for iPhone you need to go the next method in order to learn how to transfer your WhatsApp chats from one iPhone to another.

Method 3: Transfer WhatsApp chats from an iPhone to another iPhone

iPhones users can easily transfer messages from their old phones to new ones with the help of iCloud. The process is the same; the only difference being iCloud replaces Google Drive as the cloud storage drive to automatically save your chats on WhatsApp. All that you need to do is make sure that your WhatsApp is connected to your iCloud, and automatic backing up of messages is enabled. Now when you switch to a new phone, then simply log in to iCloud and WhatsApp will prompt you to restore messages from the backup. Given below is a step-wise guide for the entire process.

Step 1: Making sure that iCloud is up and active

The first thing that you need to make sure is that iCloud has been set up, and it is backing up your data.

1. To do so, open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Now tap on your username. If you are not signed in, then tap on the iCloud option and select the Sign-in option.
3. After that, tap on the iCloud option and turn it on.
4. Scroll down to the list of apps and make sure that the toggle switch next to WhatsApp is ON.

Step 2: Backup your WhatsApp chats to iCloud

1. Firstly, open WhatsApp on your phone.

2. Now tap on the Settings option.

3. Here, go to the Chats section and select Chat backup.

4. Similar to Android, you have the option to include Videos in the backup. All that you need to do is make sure that the toggle switch next to that option is enabled.

5. Finally, tap on the Back up Now button.

6. Your messages will now be transferred to your iCloud.

Step 3: Restore Old WhatsApp chats to your new iPhone

1. Now, to get back all your chats and messages on your new phone, you need to download them from the iCloud.

2. On your new iPhone, sign in to iCloud and make sure that WhatsApp has the permission to access it.

3. Now install WhatsApp on your device and launch the app.

4. Once you sign in to your account by verifying your phone number, you will be prompted to restore your chat history from iCloud.

5. Simply tap on the Restore Chat History button, and WhatsApp will begin to download the chats and messages from the cloud. Alternately, read How to Stop Auto Download in WhatsApp on Android and iPhone.. Alternately, read How to Stop Auto Download in WhatsApp on Android and iPhone..

6. You can then tap on the Next button and start using the app while the messages get downloaded in the background.

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We hope that you find this information helpful and you were able to transfer WhatsApp chats to a new Phone. WhatsApp is one of the most widely used apps in the world. Most of our conversations take place on WhatsApp. As a result, if someone is using their phone for several years, then the number of chats and messages are in thousands. It would be a shame if these messages were lost while shifting or upgrading to a new phone.