As the title of the article reveals, one can finally transfer WhatsApp chats from their iOS devices to Android ones. The functionality will now be baked natively into the WhatsApp app, however, there’s a catch. The functionality will temporarily be available only for the newly unveiled Galaxy Fold devices.
The new WhatsApp feature was officially announced during Samsung’s Unpacked event. The Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 will be the first phones to get the feature. Samsung has managed to score the exclusivity of the feature for its devices for a ‘few weeks.
Eventually, the feature should be made available to all Android users. Users have always had to use third-party software to gain access to the functionality. The new announcement solves several problems for those who have wanted to make the switch.
The new feature will transfer WhatsApp chats histories using a physical Lightning to USB-C cable. This means that the process is not possible to be conducted wirelessly via the internet. If you have two separate cloud backups on iOS and Android, WhatsApp won’t merge them. Instead, it will transfer and then overwrite the existing backup.
After the foldables, Samsung devices running Android 10 and up will receive the feature “in the coming weeks.” There’s no information regarding when the feature would arrive for non-Samsung Android phones or when the company would allow Android to iOS transfers.
Samsung’s new foldables include the Galaxy Z Fold3 and the Galaxy Z Flip3. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 sports a 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED Display with 2208 x 1768 pixels resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. There is a 374ppi pixel density and 120Hz refresh rate. The other display is a 6.2-inch HD+ Super AMOLED panel. There’s 2260 x 832 pixels resolution, and a 120Hz refresh rate.