LONDON: Just like you, many of those who have downloaded and installed WhatsApp on their devices use this app for chat purposes. The app can help you connect with friends and relatives from all over the world as long as you have their phone numbers. The messages sent are not limited to texts, like with the case of most mobile phone SMS services; rather, the users can include voice notes, video clips as well as photo moments in these messages. The application comes with a huge collection of stickers from which any person can choose and apply in their messages.
Android is all over the world and this is true because of the nature of availability of these devices. They are cheap and literally anyone can own one, including kids. This is where WhatsApp benefits more, as all kinds of users can use the app; no wonder there is a huge user base behind the app. So, if you happen to change your Android device, what happens to your WhatsApp messages?
If you happen to buy a new phone and want to transfer WhatsApp messages to the new device, here is how to.
Create a backup of your WhatsApp messages
To transfer WhatsApp messages from your old phone to a new phone, you must first of all create a backup of these conversations on the old device. Usually, these messages are saved on your phone’s SD card. To create a backup of your messages, simply open the app and tap on menu option. While in there, select settings and then choose chat settings. From here, you can see a “backup conversations” option. Tap on this option and you’ll have your messages saved on your device.
Post backing up your messages, connect the device to your PC using a USB cable and locate the WhatsApp folder with the messages backup. Transfer the whole folder to your desktop and then disconnect the old phone from the PC.
Transferring WhatsApp messages to a new phone
Connect the new phone on your PC and create a WhatsApp directory on this new phone. You may need a file explorer installed on your PC in order to do this. Once this folder is created, you can transfer the folder you saved on the desktop to this phone. Alternatively, you can simply drag and drop the WhatsApp messages folder to your new phone’s storage.
After successfully moving the WhatsApp folder onto your new phone, disconnect the phone from the PC and download and install the latest version of WhatsApp. Once the app installs, it will discover the backed up messages and ask you if you want to restore them. Accept this request and you’ll have your messages back on your new phone. However, keep in mind that you must first of all remove the installed WhatsApp from your old phone before installing it on the new device. Otherwise, it won’t be possible to setup the account on the new phone.
As you may have seen, this process is very simple and there is no skill required to transfer WhatsApp messages from your old phone to a new phone. Remember that this process will only work for Android to Android devices and not from any other platform. The same can also be done in the case of Windows Phone to Windows Phone devices.
