WhatsApp is working on allowing you to transfer your chat history from one iPhone to another without iCloud. A local transfer tool will make WhatsApp chat migration faster and easier.
Currently, your WhatsApp history must be backed up to iCloud before it is transferrable to another device. This is a time-consuming process and also requires you to have enough free space in your iCloud account.
WhatsApp chat migration between iPhones could become a lot easier
WABetaInfo has spotted the Meta-owned messaging platform working on a local ‘Transfer Chats to iPhone’ tool in the latest WhatsApp beta for iPhone. As the name indicates, the utility will enable migrating your WhatsApp conversations from one iPhone to another without iCloud.
The tool will require you to download and set up WhatsApp on your new iPhone and then scan a QR code displayed on the old device. This will initiate the local transfer process.
Screenshot: WABetaInfo
WhatsApp chat history can run into a few gigabytes for most users. This is an issue when migrating your WhatsApp conversations to another iPhone since iCloud only offers 5GB of free storage. So, you can’t transfer your WhatsApp chats if you don’t have enough free space.
iCloud’s temporary extra storage is not for transferring WhatsApp chat history
Apple temporarily provides extra storage space on iCloud if you exhaust your storage quota. However, this only applies when switching to a new iPhone or iPad. You won’t get the extra space when only wanting to migrate your WhatsApp chat history from one iPhone to another.
Plus, for iCloud backup, you must have access to a high-speed internet connection, which might not always be possible. So a local transfer tool is always good to have.
For now, it is unclear when WhatsApp intends to roll out its local chat migration utility for iPhone (and Android). Given the tool has been spotted in beta testing, its public rollout should commence soon.
