WhatsApp: Export chat - possible in Germany?

As soon as you have a new smartphone, you don't just want your pictures and videos to move with you, but also that you can still access your WhatsApp chats. After all, they often contain important or cherished messages that you don't want to do without on your new smartphone.

What's the situation: can you export chats?

Until now, you had the option to take messages with you via the stored "Export chat" function, but currently this is no longer possible.

• As of January 2020, this function is no longer available in Germany. This also means that chat histories or groups can no longer be taken along.
• WhatsApp justifies the decision with a lack of capacity and that the free service is not designed for this type of service.
• It is more likely, however, that the decision is based on the dispute between Blackberry and Facebook. Blackberry has asserted itself in December 2019 in a patent lawsuit in nine cases against Facebook, in which it is about the archiving function of chat histories.
• Because of the software, which is very similar in Facebook and WhatsApp, the decision seems to be a precautionary measure to avoid an expensive legal dispute.

Why only in Germany?

You may wonder why this option is now excluded only in Germany. This is because WhatsApp could get problems here because of the decision, as there is already a similar ruling. Since Blackberry has already announced that it will also take action against Facebook in other countries, it may happen that the service function is not available there either for the time being.