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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- You can now easily move your WhatsApp chat history from iOS to Android.
- It’s also easier to find and delete large files taking up space.
- The WhatsApp updates are rolling out now.
Transferring your WhatsApp history from an Android phone to an iPhone has been a simple process for a while now, but moving from an iPhone to an Android phone wasn’t nearly as easy. That’s now a thing of the past, as WhatsApp is rolling out a new update that not only makes it easy to switch from Apple to Android, but also introduces several other changes.
Here’s what’s new.
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Easily transfer your chat history from iOS to Android
Perhaps the most useful new feature improves the ease of transferring your chat history cross-platform from iOS to Android. You can’t save your call history, display name, or media you’ve received over channels, but you can save your account info, profile photo, individual and group chats, communities chat history, and settings.
Easy transfer from Android to iOS has existed for several years now, but going the other way required a few workarounds, and transfers were often incomplete. The process now takes just a few clicks. From your iPhone, open WhatsApp and go to Chats > Transfer chat history > Transfer to Android.
Use multiple accounts on one iOS device
Also new for iOS users is the ability to have two accounts on one phone. Since WhatsApp is tied to your phone number, if you needed separate accounts, like one for work and one for personal use, you needed to use two phones, or you had to keep logging in and out of your different accounts. WhatsApp says it will be easy to tell which account you’re in because your profile picture will show at the bottom.
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Also new is a way to find and delete large files so you can save your chats. There are no storage limits for WhatsApp chats, but since the app saves any chats, photos, videos, voice notes, and other documents, storage space can become an issue over time. If you tap a chat and then choose Manage Storage, you’ll see large media files you can remove to free up space.
WhatsApp also added two AI-powered features — the ability to touch up photos with Meta AI before sending them (including removing an object or changing the background), and the option to have AI draft a response based on your conversation.
These features are rolling out now, WhatsApp says, and will be available to all users soon.
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