HIGHLIGHTS

• WhatsApp is finally bringing an official way to transfer chat history from an iPhone to Android.
• The feature, however, will be available first to Samsung premium devices.
• There’s no word about a similar tool for switching chat history from an Android device to an iPhone.

If you’re an iPhone user and have been thinking about switching to an Android device, but drop that idea because of WhatsApp, possibly the most important messaging app on your device, then cheer up because you are finally getting what you have wished for years.

WhatsApp will soon let users transfer their chat history, including photos and voice memos, between iOS and Android. However, the big catch here is that it would be available starting with new Galaxy models, and WhatsApp hasn’t said a word about whether the feature would work vice versa for Android and iPhone.

Probably among the biggest announcements on Wednesday during Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event, WhatsApp finally confirmed the long-rumoured feature. The chat history transfer app is said to be available for Samsung’s newer premium devices, including the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3, first and will eventually roll out to other Samsung phones in the coming weeks. While we understand that the same tool should also work for Android to iPhone chat transfer for WhatsApp users, for the moment, there’s no word when it will be available to users.

In the early preview screenshots shared, WhatsApp will offer the option to import chat history while setting up a new device. The screenshots show three app screens where the first shows “Importing chat history”, where the app will need permission to restore your chats. Notably, the app notes that users will not be able to import it later if they skip this step. The second screenshot shows the app screen where WhatsApp says to keep the phone unlocked and the app open for chat migration. Finally, the third screenshot shows the final “Import completed.”

Engadget, in a report, adds that the chat history feature would be available on Samsung phones running Android 10 or newer versions. Of course, this was apart from the newer premium foldable devices. The report further said that the chat transfer would also include images and voice memos.

The messaging platform has said that implementing the chat transfer tool was difficult as the app uses end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp added that migrating chats demanded additional work from all WhatsApp, OS developers, and OEM manufacturers.

Sharing additional details, The Verge reports that the chat migration from an iPhone to Samsung devices (which would get it first) would require using Lightning to USB-C. Adding further, the report adds that the new chat migration will not merge chats stored in two different cloud storage – iCloud for iPhones and Google Drive for Android. This means if you’ve switched between the two platforms, then chances are you may not be able to merge chat history ever.