WhatsApp will finally allow users transfer all your chats between iOS devices to Android. Of course, initially it will be limited from iOS to Android, and only when the transfer is made to Samsung terminals. The new function, announced this Wednesday at Samsung Unpacked, had been rumored for some time, but it was not known with certainty what its implementation would be like.
The company explained that the tool works with the application Samsung Smart Switch and a Lightning to USB-C cable. Once the devices are connected by cable, the aforementioned app must be opened and with the old mobile — the iPhone — scan the QR code provided. Then, to finish the process, you must log in to WhatsApp on the new device and start importing the chats.
From WhatsApp they assure that the creation of this type of tool was not an easy task. This, mainly, because the conversations are end-to-end encrypted and stored locally. For the migration to be safe, the company had to create a system capable of interacting with different operating systems.
“We are excited for the first time to make it easy for people to safely transfer their WhatsApp history from one operating system to another. This has been one of the most requested features by users for years,” said the company’s product people. Sandeep Paruchuri, according to TechCrunch.
A WhatsApp feature, for now, limited
The fact that the new tool has been presented Unpacked is no accident. And is that the first devices to benefit from this tool will be the new Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3, while the rest of the terminals with Android 10 or higher from Samsung will be supported “in the coming weeks.”
WhatsApp did not provide details about when the transfer tool could reach Android devices other than Samsung’s. However, it is expected a broader deployment that allows conversations to be migrated from one device to another beyond the aforementioned manufacturer or operating system. Of course, a tool to transfer chats from Android to iOS is expected.
Until today there was no official tool to transfer WhatsApp conversations from an iOS device to one with Android. While the messaging app supports cloud backups, they are stored in iCloud or Google Drive. Consequently, to recover them it is necessary to have the same operating system.