➤ How not to lose WhatsApp chats by changing phone 🕹

If you make a prolonged use of WhatsApp, practicing long and interesting chat conversations, you are probably very attached to this social network and to what you have written, said or posted to us.

If this is the case for you, when it was time to change the smartphone, surely some dunni arose on:

how to do with WhatsApp chats?
how to transfer them to the new device.?

The purpose of this article is precisely linked to this eventuality, as inside you will find all the explanations and information, to understand how to not lose WhatsApp chats by changing phone.

Preliminary information

Let's start by addressing some fundamental aspects of transferring WhatsApp chats from phone to phone:

as far as transfers from the same operating system are concerned, official procedures can be performed through cloud storage services (Google Drive and iCloud) and it is therefore a simple and safe operation.
It is different, however, if the chat transfer must take place between different operating systems. Lately the situation is improving, but there are still no official procedures to move messages from Android to iPhone (Meta is trying). In this case we will therefore have to use specific apps and programs.
In case we want to transfer chats from iPhone ad Android, the WhatsApp app for iOS offers the feature Move chats to Android, useful for carrying out this step, albeit with limitations for the receiving devices.

How not to lose WhatsApp chats by changing Android phone

WhatsApp Android

The safest way to transfer WhatsApp chats between two phones Android, is to use Google Drive, the Google cloud space.

The basic requirement for not losing personal chats is:

set up the same Google account on the new phone as the old one,
carry out the same operation by manually moving the chat database.

Google Drive

Here's how to move data through Google Drive:

start WhatsApp from old smartphone,
from its app drawer, press the button (⋮) located at the top right,
I will select the voice Settings from the proposed menu,
go to the section Chat by tapping on the relevant item.

At this point:

I will select the voice Backup of chats,
press the button Backup, to make a complete save of the chats, both on Google Drive and in the phone memory,
to also include i video in the backup, move to ON the lever, located next to the relevant option and located at the bottom of the screen.

You can also do a end-to-end encrypted backup, in which case, however, during the recovery phase, we will have to provide your password, as, by forgetting it, its content will no longer be accessible.

For more information about it, go to the address:.

After completing this operation:

move to new smartphone and configure the same Google account already in use on the old one,
to make it go to the section Settings> Accounts of Android,
select items Add account and Google,
complete the procedure proposed on the screen.

After adding the Google account:

install it, start it and carry out the initial configuration,
when prompted, type your own telephone number and, if necessary, the code received via SMS.

Once the number verification phase is complete, WhatsApp automatically detects the backup previously saved on Google Drive:

press the button Restore displayed on the screen,
wait for the procedure to complete.

File in memory

If we cannot use backups via Google Drive, we can, however, move WhatsApp messages from one phone to another by transferring the backups saved in the memory.

To start:

back up from vecchio smartphone, (as we have just seen),
start the file manager, for example
once in the main screen of the app, tap on the tab Shop by Department,
press on Internal memory,
select folders WhatsApp > Databases,
locate the file msgstore.db.crypt14.

Done this:

long tap on the icon of three dots next to the file,
I will select the voice Share from the on-screen menu that opened,
now we have to auto-send the file to us, using Gmail, Outlook or any other email app.
Another possibility is to upload the file also to a cloud storage space, which could be Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox.

To choose which procedure to use, we must keep in mind that we can easily access the file sent, even from the new smartphone.

If we want to move the multimedia files too:

repeat the same operation for the folder Internal Memory> WhatsApp> Media,
this folder can reach very important dimensions and therefore it is better to evaluate this choice well.

At this point:

turn on the new smartphone and download the file msgstore.db.crypt14, that we have sent ourselves,
install, without starting it,
repeat the operation with Google files and start the latter app.

After granting the file manager all appropriate permissions:

press on the items Internal Memory> Downloads,
locate our backup,
click the i icon three vertical dots,
from the new menu, tap on the items Move to> Internal storage> WhatsApp> Databases,, (if these two folders do not exist, we can create them),
click on the button Move here,
if necessary, repeat the operation with the folder Media previously saved,
moving it to Internal memory> WhatsApp.

Now all you need to do is start WhatsApp and perform the initial configuration procedure.

At the end you will be asked if we want to restore the backup already in memory:

press the button Restore,
wait for the procedure to be completed (and if necessary insert the Password backup, if it was encrypted).

The messages have been moved.

How not to lose WhatsApp chats by changing iPhone

The procedure for transferring WhatsApp chats from iPhone a iPhone uses the same system as this visa for Android.

Based on the creation of a backup of chats to iCloud from the old phone, and then proceed with the reset directly from the device.

This is the procedure:

open WhatsApp, from old iPhone,
click on the tab Settings located at the bottom right,
go to the items Chat and Chat Backup,
press the button Back up now.

If we want to include the videos in the backup as well:

move the lever Include videos on Enabled.

To make a end-to-end encrypted backup, we will have to provide your password, being restored (otherwise we will no longer be able to access it).

How not to lose WhatsApp chats by changing SIM

If we decided to change SIM , thus switching to another telephone operator while keeping the old number, let's see how to do it.

WhatsApp chats are expressly linked to the telephone number regardless of the operator and SIM used.

The transfer procedures do not require the physical insertion of the SIM into the device.

The only essential factor is the phone number linked to the WhatsApp account.

What needs to be done is:

activate the new SIM which will be equipped with a temporary number,
wait for the telephone operators to conclude the procedures for the portability of our number.

Until the portability has been transferred, you can use the old SIM, connected to the WhatsApp chats and, when the number is transferred to the new SIM, the old one will no longer be active and we will be able to use the new SIM exactly as before, by inserting it within your device, regardless of whether it is Android or iPhone.

At the first access on WhatsApp using the new SIM containing the old number:

the messaging app will display a message asking you to continue using the phone number in question,
answer affirmatively to the message to continue using WhatsApp as we have always done, without losing the chats that will remain there exactly as they were before.

If we also want to change the phone and use the new SIM, on a new smartphone, we have to follow the same procedures seen previously for Android and iOS.

How not to lose WhatsApp chats by changing number

Now let's see the case of wanting change phone number.

You can use the native WhatsApp function called Change number.

To reach it:

on the device Android or iOS, open the app Whatsapp,
press the t iconre vertical dots,
or on the card Settings placed at the bottom right if we use iPhone,
tap on the items Settings> Accounts> Change number.

In the new screen that opened:

to press NEXT and enter the old number by telephone followed by new number phone,
typed the numbers click again on NEXT,
choose whether to inform contacts by moving to ON the appropriate lever,
press the button End,
or your voice Done, in upper right, if we use a iPhone.

In the message that appeared on the screen, concerning the confirmation of the number:

tap the Yes button,
or on the key Modification, if we see that the number is incorrect,
wait for the verification of the new number,
enter the 6-digit code, ricevuto processes SMS.

We will see a message appearing confirming the change of number and, consequently, of the WhatsApp account.

The chats connected to the old number will still be present on our device.

How not to miss WhatsApp chats by changing phone

Now let's see the case of having purchased a phone with a different operating system, compared to the previous one.

We list the various solutions to understand:

how not to miss WhatsApp chats,
in order to pass da Android a iPhone o da iPhone ad Android.

From Android to iPhone

There is no native function, able to quickly and safely transfer chats from the old Android smartphone to the new iPhone.

To solve the problem, you can use third-party software, created for this purpose.

It is Wondershare dr.fone, a solution for mobile, specially designed to cope with every possible scenario for Android and iOS.

The complete Toolkit is available in free trial version for PC Windows and macOS (with limitations), and can be purchased at the price of 149,99 € with license for one year.

If we do not want to buy the entire kit, it is possible to proceed with the purchase of a single function, in this case Dr.fone - WhatsApp Transfer, at the price of 29,99 euros, always with one year license.

To proceed:

start the free trial by connecting to this page of the
press the button Try free, corresponding to the operating system used by our computer,
give the necessary consent, to allow the computer to download files from the Internet,
double click on the file you just downloaded (.exe o .dmg, again depending on the operating system),
Press the button I agree, for the acceptance of the terms of service and privacy,
complete the installation by following the on-screen procedure.

Once the program is installed:

click on its icon,
on its icon,
click the box labeled WhatsApp transfer,
when the new panel opens, press on the item Transfer WhatsApp messages,
connect your Android device to the PC via USB cable,
do the same thing with the new iPhone, connecting it via the Lightning cable.

The Android smartphone must be placed under the item Source, otherwise the placement of the telephones is reversed by pressing the button Flip.

In order for everything to work properly and for the software to recognize the Android smartphone, you need to activate the USB debugging.

After enabling debugging:

the Android device will be recognized by the dr.fone software,
press on the item Allow in the message on the screen, which we display on your smartphone, to allow the PC to connect.

To conclude the operation and permanently transfer the WhatsApp massages from Android to iPhone:

click the blue button Transfer,
you must purchase the license, as the free trial does not offer the full transfer service.

From iPhone to Android

Apple has introduced a native feature to quickly transfer WhatsApp chats da iPhone ad Android.

The Android smartphone in question, however, must be a Samsung with factory settings, since the procedure takes place through its initialization.

In addition, it is necessary to comply with certain requirements and possess:

iOS WhatsApp with version 2.21.160.17 or higher
WhatsApp Android with version 2.21.16.20 or higher
app
un USB-C to Lightning cable.

If we meet all these requirements, then the above function can be used:

from the iPhone, start the WhatsApp app by tapping on its icon,
press on the tab Settings, located at the bottom right,
tap on the item Chat ,
click on the wording Move chats to Android, present in the new screen that opened.

Done this:

in the further screen that we display, press the key Start,
move to the new Android smartphone to complete the procedure,
connect the two phones using cavo USB-C a Lightning,
follow the on-screen instructions provided by Samsung SmartSwitch,
when prompted, scan the QR Code shown on the Android device screen using the iPhone camera.

To continue:

tap on the wording starts present your iPhone,
after configuring the rest of the settings of the Android smartphone, start the WhatsApp app,
proceed with the initial configuration.

Once this phase has been completed, a screen appears on which: