IOS users will finally be free to switch to Android without losing their precious WhatsApp chats, when will the reverse feature?
After weeks of rumors, unconfirmed by WhatsApp but indirectly confirmed by Samsung, now there is official news that will make happy iPhone owners who also have at least one Android device: with an official post on its blog WhatsApp has announced the arrival of a wizard to migrate all chat history from iOS devices to Android ones.
The problem that the new feature is going to solve is that, until now, it has always been possible to switch WhatsApp chats from one iOS device to another, or from one Android to another, but it is not possible to jump from one platform to another bringing with you the history of chats exchanged with the most used messaging app in the world. This has long been a major limitation for those who wanted to replace their iPhone with an Android phone, but also for those who had both devices and wanted to move the account from the iPhone to the Android device. Now this problem is about to be, at least in part, solved and, WhatsApp explains, without any risk to the privacy and security of the user's chats.
WhatsApp from iOS to Android: how it works
The system developed by WhatsApp does not go through WhatsApp: everything happens on the user's phones, which must be connected to each other with a USB-C/Lightning cable. After connecting the phones you can launch the migration procedure. All the chat history will be migrated from one platform to another, including voice messages, photos and videos.
The data will not be sent to WhatsApp's servers, but will pass exclusively from the cable. So there will be no risk that the user's chats will be intercepted, nor decrypted and therefore read by someone.
From now on, WhatsApp explains, when we configure WhatsApp for the first time on a new phone we will be given the opportunity to take advantage of this feature.
WhatsApp from iOS to Android: when it arrives
The new wizard to transfer WhatsApp from iPhone to Android has been officially announced by the messaging app. It's not a feature in beta, then, that may never arrive. That doesn't mean, however, that it's coming for everyone right away.
WhatsApp has decided to start with Samsung phones, and only those running Android 10 or later. But it guarantees that "it's just the first step. WhatsApp will continue to strive to make this option available to more and more users, who will then be able to choose to use the platform they prefer and take their chats with them at all times."
In the future, then, in addition to passing WhatsApp chats from iPhone to Samsung you will be able to do the same operation from iPhone to any Android smartphone. But we still don't know when.
Not a word, instead, about the opposite process: moving WhatsApp chats from an Android phone to an iPhone. Today, this procedure can be done, but only by making an encrypted backup of the iPhone and using iTunes and other third-party apps.