Restoring WhatsApp messages from Android to iPhone (and vice versa)

Let’s start this article remembering that one of the greatest inventions that significantly changed the life of men was the cell phone.

We don’t need to say it, do we?

Throughout time, more models with improved features were created, and cell phones evolved to become more sophisticated.

Nowadays, it is quite common that users change their devices frequently. Even though programmed obsolescence is mostly to blame for this, it is also true that getting the latest phone model has almost become an obsession.

And, probably, one of the things that worries us the most whenever we change our device is making sure that our important data stored on the old device is not lost and being able to transfer it to a new device.

This has become a simple task thanks to backups. However, something that is difficult for users is to migrate their data from an operating system to another, for instance, migrating data from iOS to Android or vice versa.

And this becomes an even harder task if we wish to restore information from specific apps such as WhatsApp.

If you have changed an Android device to an iOS device (or vice versa), and you don’t know how to restore your WhatsApp messages, we have information to teach you how to do it.

Below, we will teach you step-by-step how to do it.

How do I restore my WhatsApp messages from my Android device to an iOS device (and vice versa)?

Making backups and restoring them on a device is quite an easy task if we have two devices that belong to the same platform. For instance: from an Android to an Android, or from iOS to iOS.

The issue comes whenever we want to migrate and restore our data from an app, such as WhatsApp, among different platforms.

However, there are methods to achieve this (some are easier than others).

1. Making a WhatsApp backup on Android and restoring it on an iOS device

This method is the simplest and easiest one, since you’ll be able to keep almost all of your chats from your WhatsApp conversations up until the moment that you create the backup.

However, it is likely that, depending on the storage space that the backup occupies, some data or files will be omitted during the backup process.

You should keep in mind that you should do this on your Android device before configuring WhatsApp on your new iOS device. To make the WhatsApp backup on your Android device, follow these steps:

Step 1

Open WhatsApp, enter into Settings, and click on “Chats.”

Step 2

Slide to see more options, and press “Backup.”

Step 3

Click on Save to immediately create a backup of your messages and files into Google Drive. This backup will also be made on the SD card, if the device has one.

If you scroll down, you will be able to adjust other settings, such as changing your linked email account, whether or not you want to include videos on your backup, among others.

Step 4

Wait until the backup process ends. This may take a few minutes depending on the number of messages and files to backup.

To make the restoration process on your iOS device, you should:

Step 1

Uninstall WhatsApp from your Android device. Then, download and install WhatsApp on your iOS device. After you insert the same phone number that you had on Android, you will keep the same WhatsApp account.

Step 2

After verifying the WhatsApp account on the new iOS device, you will get an onscreen message telling you that you have a backup of your previous messages. Click on “restore”.

Step 3

The restoration process of a backup could last for a few minutes, depending of the size of it, so you’ll need to wait until it finishes up.

2. Sending WhatsApp chats from Android to iOS via email

This is one of the most selective methods to make a WhatsApp data backup. This method won’t allow you to restore your messages on the app (that is, the information won’t be synchronized,) since the conversation will simply be copied and will be sent via email.

Even so, this is a good method if, suddenly, you have some chats with important information that you don’t want to lose.

However, this method is not a good solution if you want to make a backup of all, or most, of your chats since this process is done chat by chat.

Step 1

Open the WhatsApp chat that you wish to send via email. Click on the upper right corner to display more options and click on “More.”

Step 2

After entering on this menu, scroll down and click on “Export chat.” A message will appear asking you if you want to attach multimedia files during the exporting process, except if, by doing so, the storage needed would be over the device’s limit. You should select, according to your preferences, “Attach files” or “Don’t attach files.”

Step 3

The exporting process will begin, and you will be asked where you would like to send it. In this case, select your preferred email. A redacted email will appear and will be ready to send, and you should indicate another email address where the copy of the WhatsApp chat will be sent. You’re all set! Your now have your first backed up chat stored on your email account.

3. Download and install dr.fone – Backup and Restoration (iOS) on your PC to transfer files from Android to iOS

To transfer WhatsApp conversations from Android to iOS, you could also download a program on your computer that would allow you to safely and fully do this process by only following these simple steps:

Step 1

Download and install dr.fone – Backup and Restoration (iOS) on your computer.

Step 2

After opening the program, while you are on the home screen, click on Restore Social App, select WhatsApp, and press the button “Transfer messages from WhatsApp.”

Step 3

Connect the smartphones with their respective cables (USB and lightning) to your computer and, automatically, the dr.fone software will reconnect them. Here, you will see a screen where showing you from where and to where the transfer will be done. Regardless of the case (from Android to iOS and vice versa,) you will be able to apply the changes by pressing the button “turn around.”

Step 4

Press on “Transfer” and the information transferring process from WhatsApp from a device to another will immediately begin.

It also important that you pay attention to the warning messages that will be displayed periodically since there is the possibility that data from your WhatsApp account phone may be deleted on the phone where the information will be transferred, and there is also the possibility that some of the data may overwrite the data on the other device.

Step 5

After reading and accepting those notifications, the WhatsApp chat and file transferring process will begin from the source to its destination.

After finishing the transfer, you will be able to execute WhatsApp on the receiving device and restore the backup.

Other functionalities from dr.fone:

With this program, you will be able to not only migrate WhatsApp information from a device to another, where both devices are connected to a PC, but you will also be able to, among other things:

1. Backup and export WhatsApp chats on your computer in HTML format so that you can view and even print them.

2. Restoring a WhatsApp backup from your computer to an Android or iOS device. With this method, you will be able to choose the files that you wish to restore on your mobile device by choosing either one or all of them.

Another way of transferring WhatsApp messages from an iOS or Android device

Whenever you want to make WhatsApp messages migration process from an iOS device to an Android device as a local backup, there is another method available. However, you’ll need to download a paid app (WazzapMigrator). To do this, you should:

Step 1:

You should install on your computer a program that extracts iCloud backup files (it could be iPhone BackUp Extractor) and, then, you should install WazzapMigrator on your Android device.

Step 2

Now, connect your iPhone to your PC and open the iTunes app (in its most updated version.) Start a backup that is not encrypted on the iOS device (and that it’s not on iCloud.)

Step 3

With the iPhone BackUp Extractor program, open up the backup that just got created through iTunes, and locate the backup files corresponding to WhatsApp.

Follow this route:

BackUp Extractor > Back up > Expert Mode > Application Groups > .WhatsApp.shared > ChatStorage.sqilte.

Select the full folder, click on Extract, and save the file in a folder that is easy for you to locate.

NOTE: The free version of this extractor will only allow you to extract up to four files so, if you wish to export multimedia files, you should pay for its license.

Step 4

Now, you should connect via USB to your computer the Android device that will receive the files from the iOS device. You should activate the data transferring option so that you can use it as a USB storage device.

Step 5

Now that your PC recognizes your Android device as a USB storage device, proceed to locate the file that you extracted from your iPhone, copy it, and then paste it on the Downloads folder of your Android device.

IMPORTANT: In this step, you should make sure that your Android device doesn’t have WhatsApp installed, and that it has WazzapMigrator installed.

Step 6

Open the WazzapMigrator app on your Android device, and make sure that it recognizes the files that you just transferred to your Android device. Press the Play icon and wait until the migration process starts.

Step 7

Once the WhatsApp data migration between your iOS and Android devices ends, you’ll only need to reinstall the WhatsApp app on it and, once your device tells you to, press the “Restore Local WhatsApp Copy” button.