A lot went down at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event. From the new Galaxy Z Fold3 to the first Wear OS 3 smartwatch, Samsung came with a ton of news to its latest unveiling.
However, what really stood out was an announcement that may have slipped right by you if you weren’t paying close attention. Yes, it’s finally here, WhatsApp can now transfer your entire chat history between iPhone and Android devices.
The feature will gradually roll out to Samsung devices on Android 10 and eventually reach all other Android devices and iPhones “in the coming weeks”. It appears Samsung pulled some strings to gain exclusivity on the feature in hopes to convince iPhone users to make the switch to Samsung.
WhatsApp users could only sync their conversations to a new device using Google drive backups on Android and iCloud backups on iOS. But with this new feature, you can now jump ship to another platform whether it’s to or from Android, without losing all your messages, voice notes, and photos.
To use the feature, you’ll need a USB-C to Lightning Cable and launch Smart Switch. The new smartphone will then prompt you to scan a QR code using your old phone and export your WhatsApp history.
Since its release, WhatsApp has grown to become one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. However, the popular app was limited to a single instance on a single device.
Matter of fact, users were forced to back up to local storage so that messages, images, chats, and voice notes could be restored on a new device. But, it was never possible to transfer data between operating systems.
Alfred Gitonga is a passionate tech news writer with a deep interest in smartphones and related technologies. He is a staff writer at Mobitrends.co.ke.
