How to transfer WhatsApp chats to a new phone

Which method fits your move

A Google Account backup cannot be restored on an iPhone, and an iCloud backup cannot be restored on Android. Between the two systems, the phone-to-phone transfer is the only way WhatsApp supports.

Before you start

• Keep the old phone, and keep WhatsApp on it, until the new phone shows all your chats. WhatsApp does not delete anything from the old phone when a transfer fails, so it is your safety net.
• Use the same phone number on the new phone. If you are also changing number, change it in WhatsApp on the old phone first, or your history will not follow you.
• Update WhatsApp to the latest version on both phones, charge them or plug them in, and connect them to the same Wi-Fi.
• Do not set WhatsApp up on the new phone yet. If you already have, and it holds nothing you need, delete it and install it again when you are ready: two histories cannot be merged.
• Export the conversations you could not bear to lose. A transfer that finishes without some chats cannot be repeated from the new phone, and WhatsApp says it cannot retrieve chats that did not move.

• Export a chat before you switch →
• Where to keep a saved chat →
• Preserve the chats that matter before you switch →

Android to Android, or iPhone to iPhone, by QR code

Your chats move directly between the phones over a local connection, without passing through a cloud backup. Once the new phone is registered, WhatsApp signs you out on the old one.

1. On the new phone, install WhatsApp, open it, and tap Agree and Continue.
2. Enter the phone number you use on the old phone and confirm it.
3. When WhatsApp offers to transfer from your old phone, follow the prompts until it shows a QR code. Connect to Wi-Fi if it asks.
4. On the old phone, scan the QR code with the camera WhatsApp opens. Keep WhatsApp open on both phones.
5. Tap Start or Start Transfer, and wait. On Android, tap Accept on the old phone when it asks to connect.
6. When it finishes, enter your two-step verification PIN if you have one, check your profile, and tap Next.

Move by restoring a backup instead

If the old phone is lost, broken, or already reset, restore from your last backup. On Android, sign the new phone in to the same Google account, install WhatsApp, verify your number, and tap Restore. On iPhone, sign in to the same Apple Account, install WhatsApp, verify your number, and tap Restore Chat History.

A restore brings back what was in the last backup and nothing after it. Videos come back only if Include videos was on, and an encrypted backup needs its password or 64-digit key.

• Check when your last backup ran →
• What a restore replaces →

Android to iPhone with Move to iOS

You need Android 5 or later and iOS 15.5 or later, the latest WhatsApp on the Android phone, and Apple’s Move to iOS app installed on it. The iPhone has to be new or reset to factory settings, because Move to iOS runs during setup. Use the same phone number on the iPhone, plug both phones in, and put them on the same Wi-Fi, or connect the Android phone to the iPhone’s hotspot.

1. Start setting up the iPhone. On the Move Data from Android screen, open Move to iOS on the Android phone and enter the code the iPhone shows.
2. On the Transfer Data screen, select WhatsApp.
3. Tap Start on the Android phone and wait while WhatsApp prepares your data. You are signed out on Android when it is ready.
4. Tap Next to return to Move to iOS, then Continue, and let the transfer finish.
5. On the iPhone, install WhatsApp from the App Store and sign in with the same phone number.
6. Tap Start when WhatsApp offers to bring your chats across, and let it finish before you open any chat.

iPhone to Android

You need the same phone number on both phones, the latest WhatsApp on each, and a steady Wi-Fi connection. WhatsApp’s pages differ on the oldest Android version that works, giving Android 6 in one place and Android 10 in another, and one asks for a new or reset phone. A new or reset phone on a current Android version avoids both problems.

1. On the iPhone, open WhatsApp, go to Settings, then Chats, then Transfer chat history, and choose Transfer to Android.
2. Tap Continue and allow WhatsApp to use the camera. Keep the iPhone unlocked from now on.
3. On the Android phone, install WhatsApp, verify the same phone number, and tap Allow when it asks to transfer from your iPhone. A QR code appears.
4. Scan the QR code with the iPhone.
5. Tap Join when the iPhone asks to connect to the Android phone’s network, and wait for the transfer to finish.
6. Tap Next on the Android phone to open your chats.

What moves, and what stays behind

Between two phones of the same kind, your full history moves, media included. Status updates do not move in either direction. Type your display name in again on the new phone, and save any Channel media you want before you switch.

Moving to a new phone and a new number

Do it in two steps. First, on the old phone, open WhatsApp Settings, then Account, then Change number, and move to the new number. Then transfer to the new phone using the new number. If you register the new number on the new phone first, WhatsApp treats it as a new account and your history stays on the old phone.

When the transfer will not start or stops partway

• No QR code appears. Check both phones are on the same Wi-Fi, location is on, and you accepted every permission WhatsApp asked for.
• The transfer is stuck or shows an error. Turn both phones off, wait about 30 seconds, turn them back on, and start again.
• WhatsApp is already set up on the new phone. Delete it there and install it again; for iPhone to Android, WhatsApp may ask you to reset the Android phone instead.
• Something went wrong with your chat history, or Could not import. WhatsApp says the history may be damaged. Try again once; if it fails again, it cannot be moved that way.
• The import stops partway. This is usually the connection. Keep the phones close, plugged in, and unlocked, and avoid switching networks.
• You are asked to wait before getting a new code. Too many attempts in a row trigger a wait for the verification code. Let the timer run out rather than retrying.
• The phone’s own setup tool failed. Some Android phones offer to bring WhatsApp across in Samsung Smart Switch or Google’s data restore. If that route fails, WhatsApp refers you to Samsung or Google, so use Transfer to Android in WhatsApp on the iPhone instead.
• A third-party transfer app is involved. WhatsApp does not support them and says they can cause you to lose chats. Every move on this page is free and built into WhatsApp or the phone.

• Make a fresh backup to fall back on →

Can you merge old chats into a new phone?

No. WhatsApp holds one history per phone, and a transfer or restore replaces whatever the new phone already has. If you have been using WhatsApp on the new phone for a while, decide which history to keep before you start, and export the chats from the other one that you want to keep reading.

• Keep a copy of the chats you leave behind →

An export will not move your chats, but it keeps them

An exported chat is a text file, with the media beside it if you include it. It cannot be loaded into WhatsApp on the new phone, so it is no substitute for the transfer. What it gives you is a copy that no transfer, restore, or new phone can overwrite.

That is worth having for the few conversations that matter most: a family group, someone who has died, an agreement you may need to show later. Export them on the old phone before you switch, and open the file whenever you need it, as a readable conversation in your browser.

• Read an exported chat as a conversation →
• Keeping the messages of someone who has died →

After the move

Turn on backups on the new phone straight away. After a move from Android to iPhone, your chats are not in iCloud until the first iPhone backup runs, and a phone with no backup is one accident away from losing them.

Open WhatsApp on the new phone and check your important chats, groups, and media are all there. Then reset the old phone to factory settings, and remove any memory card, before you sell it, trade it in, or hand it on. On Android, WhatsApp media can sit in the phone’s storage after the app is gone, and a reset clears it.