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I've got a new phone (Samsung) and want to transfer my WhatsApp chat history from my old device to it. Is this possible, and how to do it? I have a WhatsApp backup file for that date.

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7 Answers 7

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  1. Go to WhatsApp > Settings > Chat's and Calls > Back up chats
  2. Connect your old phone to a computer
  3. Go into the device's internal storage and search for the folder WhatsApp
  4. Copy it to your computer and plug in your new phone.
  5. Open internal storage and copy the folder WhatsApp to your internal storage.
  6. Install WhatsApp on your new phone (if already done, clear data of WhatsApp), set it up and you'll be asked if you wan to restore the backup.
  7. Click yes and enjoy.
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  • Doesn't always work: What to do if e.g. WA comes pre-installed on the new device? I've had such a case, and even after clearing data it didn't find/recognize its own backups (though it made new backups into exactly the same directory). So on that device, we proceeded up to step 5 and half of step 6 – but were only asked for the phone number to verify, and got no chance for step 7 to enjoy :(
    – Izzy
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 12:15
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As referred in the WhatsApp FAQ:

You can transfer chats from one Android phone to another. To do so, please follow these steps:

  1. To start, make a backup of your most recent chats.

    • Go to WhatsApp → Menu Button → Settings → Chat settings → Back up chats.

  2. Next, transfer this backup to your new Android phone.

    • If your phone has an external microSD card, take the microSD card out of your old phone, and pop it into your new one.
    • For phones that have an internal memory / internal SD card (like most Samsung devices), you will need to transfer the /sdcard/WhatsApp/ folder from your old phone to the same folder of your new phone. There are a couple of ways you can do this. You can use a file explorer or even transfer the backup files to your computer.
    • Please note that it is possible to be missing some files during the transfer. Please double check to make sure all the files you wish to transfer over to your new phone are included in the backup.
    • If you are unsure about what kind of SD card you have, we recommend checking your phone's specifications on your phone manufacturer’s website.

  3. Once you have safely transferred your backup, you can install WhatsApp on your new Android phone.

  4. During the installation process, WhatsApp will automatically find your backup and ask you if you would like to restore it. Once restored, your old chats will appear on your new phone.

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    Unfortunately this only works if you haven't already transferred service over to your new phone. If you transfer service, WhatsApp will lock itself on your old phone, and the menu will not have any options except 'Contact Support'. Are there instructions that work when the new phone has already been activated?
    – aroth
    Commented Nov 14, 2014 at 0:54
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Just copy your WhatsApp folder from your device to your new device, install WhatsApp and it will automatically tell you that he found a backup as long as you use the same SIM card.

You don't even need to activate it again because the backups are registered to your inserted SIM number. Just make sure you place it in the root folder of your new device.

For some reason other answers although correct look very complicated.

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  • My experience was different: New phone, same SIM, same number. Had to activate it again (verifying the phone number via SMS), didn't accept the backups to import (didn't find them at all, but placed its new ones into the same location later). Lousy implementation of backup/restore.
    – Izzy
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 12:22
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Go to settings, chat settings and choose backup conversations. Now go to your phone storage (internal SD card) via file manager, go to the file named Whatsapp, go to the databases folder (i.e. /sdcard/Whatsapp/Databases). Choose the one without any date in its file name. It is the latest one. Transfer that file to the same location in your new device after installing Whatsapp. Now when you open Whatsapp for the first time in your new device, it will prompt you to restore the chats. This does not need the phone to be rooted :) Good luck :)

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  • I've edited your post for clarification. Still: I was just brought the old and new phone of someone "on the move", did exactly that (the WA FAQ says the same) – but WA didn't find/recognize it (though it placed its new backups exactly there).
    – Izzy
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 12:20
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Backup chat history via your gmail account. then restore chat history in your new device

Go to backup WhatsApp → Menu Button → Settings → Chat settings → Back up chats via gmail account.

login new device restore chat history via gmail account

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WhatsApp now allows backup/restore via Google Drive. This is by far the easiest method for moving to a new phone. The WhatsApp FAQ page is pretty straightforward, but here's the bit that you'll need:

Backup on Old Phone

  1. Open WhatsApp.
  2. Go to Menu Button > Settings > Chats > Chat backup.
  3. Tap Back up to Google Drive and set up the backup frequency to your liking.
  4. You will be prompted to select a Google account that you will back up your chat history to. If you do not have a Google account, tap Add account when prompted. Please remember the Google account you are using for the backup.
  5. Tap Back up over to choose the network you wish to use for backup. Please note that backing up over cellular may result in additional data charges.

Restore on New Phone

  1. Make sure the same Google account that was used to perform the backup has been added to your phone.
  2. Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp.
  3. After verifying your number, you will be prompted to restore your messages and media from Google Drive.
  4. After the restoration process is complete, tap Next and your chats will be displayed once initialization is complete.
  5. After restoring your chats, WhatsApp will begin restoring your media files.
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You can try the following

FileDrop

If you're looking for an app that keeps things simple, then I tink you're going to like FileDrop. It's a free app you can install from Google Play and is very easy to use.

When you first install the app, you'll see that it's divided into two sections. The top part will ask you to sign into your Dropbox account, and the bottom part will show you all the files you have on your Android device.

Don't worry if you didn't previously create a folder since you can create one directly from the app. Just tap on the drive icon on the top left and tap on Create Directory. If you want to rename a folder that's where your WhatsApp content will go, you can do that too.

How to Backup Your WhatsApp Files to Dropbox

The option you need to tap on is ¨As Sync Directory¨. Now, tap on the folder you want the WhatsApp backup to go to. Switch to the bottom section of the app and scroll until you see the WhatsApp folder. Tap on it and then select what you want to backup. I chose Media.

Then tap on the SD card icon and select As Sync Directory. Once you've done that tap on the cloud and sun icon to the right of your display. Tap on the Turn On Sync Feature and then enable Use Sync. After that, it should automatically start backing up your WhatsApp content.

If you want the app to automatically backup your WhatsApp content, tap on the Turn On Sync > Sync Policy > Enable Auto Sync.

Source: How to Backup WhatsApp

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