WhatsApp feature to transfer chats from iPhone to Android in test phase now; here’s how to make it work

WhatsApp is looking to take the pain out of this transfer process for all concerned by rolling out this chats feature that has taken a long time in coming.

Transferring Whatsapp chats from iOS to Android, one of the most widely requested features is finally making its way to beta testers on iPhone. Here’s what the feature looks like and how it works. (Pixabay)

Months after the feature was leaked, WhatsApp has finally, begun testing the ability to transfer chats from iPhone iOS to Android, solving a problem that has affected users since the service was first launched in 2009. Despite offering a wide range of features on the messaging platform, including offline backups and cloud backups, users who wanted to switch from an iPhone to Android and vice versa have never had an official solution – until now.

Popular WhatsApp feature leak website WABetaInfo reported that a new “Move chats to Android” setting was now available on the latest iOS beta version. This is the first time that the setting has been spotted on WhatsApp, and could be an indicator that the feature is almost ready for release. A few months ago, we reported that WhatsApp was working on the ability to transfer chats between iOS and Android devices.

Here's what the new setting to transfer chats from iOS to Android looks like.   (WABetaInfo)

Here's what the new setting to transfer chats from iOS to Android looks like.   (WABetaInfo)

The appearance of the feature is right in time for the arrival of Samsung's new foldable smartphones that were recently released, the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3 which are expected to be the first devices that will support transferring your data from an iPhone to Android and will probably use the same feature. The feature is expected to roll out to other Android devices at a later stage. At the moment, there is no word on when transferring Android chats to iOS will be supported.

If you have an iPhone, moving your chats to an Android device should be possible if you are running the latest beta version of WhatsApp for iOS. If you have version 2.21.160.16 of the app, you can head over to WhatsApp settings and check the Chats menu and select the option called “Move chats to Android.” If you do not see the feature enabled, you might have to wait until it is enabled for your account. However, transferring chats might be limited to Samsung devices at first, so users might have to wait until it rolls out to all users.