WhatsApp will transfer chats to new iPhone without iCloud. Until now the only way to transfer all WhatsApp chats to a new iPhone was to first create a full backup on iCloud, however with the new feature in the works it will be possible to transfer all chats directly from the old to the new iPhone, without necessarily having to switch to backup and iCloud.
Hotfix available for iOS 16.4.1 and macOS Ventura 13.3.1
A similar feature for the Android version, which avoids switching between Google Drive backups, has already been spotted in beta. Now, as WaBetaInfo reports, WhatsApp developers Meta have introduced direct chat transfer between iPhones in the latest beta version 23.9.0.72 of WhatsApp for iOS, which is reserved for a limited number of testers.
Transfer WhatsApp chats without going through backup and iCloud
So the novelty will come in handy for iPhone users who use the free Apple iCloud plan unfortunately still limited to only 5GB of online space. In this case the limited capacity does not allow you to take full advantage of all the synchronization services, for this reason many users do not back up their chats to iCloud.
How direct transfer of chats between iPhones will work?
With the new direct transfer function of WhatsApp chats, even those who have never made a backup on iCloud will be able to transfer them all directly to the new iPhone.
To do this, you will need to download and install WhatsApp on the new iPhone, log in with the same phone number, then use the iPhone to be replaced to scan the QR code displayed on the new iPhone. In this article we report a screenshot published by WaBetaInfo. At this point, without the user having to do anything else, the transfer of all chats between the two iPhones begins automatically.
The feature is in beta but already operational for some beta testers and will be expanded to more in the coming days. If the beta release goes smoothly, the feature will be implemented in an upcoming version of WhatsApp available to all users.
At the end of April, WhatsApp began releasing the ability to use the app on multiple smartphones, up to a maximum of four, even when the main phone is turned off or offline.
