As of today, if you switch from Android to iPhone or vice versa, you have to start from scratch. WhatsApp has been working for some time on a native way to move chats from one system to another and now we learn some additional details from WaBetaInfo: they can be migrated to a new phone number at the same time.
WhatsApp already allows you to change the phone number, keeping all your chats, but including the migration to a new number during the wizard that appears when setting up a new account avoids making an additional step. The new migration screenshot also tells us that it can only be performed during the initial setup of WhatsApp on a new phone.
More details on WhatsApp chat migration
WhatsApp continues to polish the long-awaited feature to transfer your chat history from the iPhone version to Android. We learned of its existence a little over a month ago, although the screenshot we learned about it then didn’t make it much clearer. WaBetaInfo has shared a new image from which we can deduce new details about how the migration of chats between WhatsApp versions will be.
There are only three sentences on the entire screen, but they clarify several details. First, that the migration will include all the chat history with the multimedia files included, which is expected, but never hurts to keep in mind.
On the other hand, there’s a warning that you won’t be able to transfer your chats later: the only time you can do so is when you first register WhatsApp on a new device. This warning rings a bell, as it’s the same thing it says when you set up WhatsApp on a new phone when you’re told that you’ll only have that occasion to restore your Google Drive or iCloud backup, as appropriate.
Below the button to start the process we see a small text that says “Transfer to a different phone number?” While we don’t know what will happen when you press that button, WhatsApp may allow you to transfer your chats to a new phone number directly from the initial settings, rather than having to do it later. However, it’s also possible that such a button will open an information screen telling you how to make the change manually later: we won’t know until later when it can be tested.
