WhatsApp to allow transfer of chat history between Android and iOS: Report

WhatsApp users will soon be able to transfer their chat history while making a switch from an iOS device to an Android phone and vice versa. This will include voice notes, file transfers, and text conversations, reported The Verge.

As of now, WhatsApp does not allow the transfer of chat history between varying mobile operating systems, as WhatsApp’s cloud backups save iOS chat histories on iCloud and Android chat histories on Google Drive.

The feature was announced at a Samsung launch event on August 11.

At first, WhatsApp will allow the transfer from iOS to Samsung’s new foldable phones and Samsung Android 10 devices. It will initially facilitate transfers from iOS devices to Samsung’s Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 phones along with other models “in the coming weeks”.

There is no definite timeline yet for when the new WhatsApp feature will be made available to other Android devices.

The new WhatsApp feature will transfer chat histories from one mobile operating system to another using a physical Lightning to USB-C cable instead of relying on the internet.

However, if a person has already transferred WhatsApp data from iOS to Android or vice-versa and has two separate cloud backups, this feature will not allow them to merge these into one chat history.