Fail to transfer whatapp chat - no option to restore

Question

I want to transfer my whataspp chats from my galaxy s3 mini to my new galaxy A3.

I followed the guide (I think!)

I backed up my chats and then copied the database file over onto my pc. The files all look like msgstore.db.crypt.crypt8 or with a date msgstore-2015-03-26.1.db.crypt8.

When i installed whatsapp on my new phone there was no database file so i created one. I then tranferred the msgstore files into it.

When i went though the verification process... i didnt get any option to restore and i have none of my chats...

now ive seen that my first overnight back up is in a new folder logs and is backed up as whatsapp-2015-03-29.1.log.gz

what have i done wrong? what can i try? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

According to this link :

How to transfer WhatsApp conversations to new devices: the easy way

When you have a backup, just you need to install WhatsApp on new device and,

Do not start the app in new device !

and then, Copy Database files in WhatsApp / Databases and finallly,

Setup your number in WhatsApp , and then go to Restore. or follow above link.

Answer 2

Apparently there are issues with the restore when you use a different phone number. I could not completely figure out what caused the problems in my case, but I was finally able to restore my data when I used the same Cell phone number for activation (I have a dual sim phone) as I uesd on my old phone.

I would want to share this answer here but I do not have enough reputation...

The answers there suggest that you should also use the same Google account information (not sure if "gmail" vs "googlemail" makes a difference here).

Answer 3

1. You can use Google drive backup feature of WhatsApp. Go to settings->chats->chat backup. You will see Google drive option. Select Google drive and then WhatsApp will upload you chat to Google drive.(if you don't see Google drive option in whatsapp try updating WhatsApp and login to Google drive app on phone )
2. Now on your new phone login to Google drive app once before setting of WhatsApp and then setup WhatsApp. It will automatically check Google drive for backup and ask you to restore. Make sure you use same Gmail id in step 1&2.

Answer 4

If you don't get a prompt to restore back up, make sure you have the backup file already in your computer, then reinstall WhatsApp and you should see the prompt to restore backup once you set up your WhatsApp account again in your new phone.