The phone shop will move your SIM and your photos. They will not move five years of WhatsApp chats and the photos your family only ever sent through WhatsApp. That part is on you — and it takes ten minutes if you do it in the right order.

Before anything else: check your backup is actually running

Open WhatsApp → Settings → Chats → Chat backup. Look at "Last backup". If it says "Never" or a date from last year, your backup is off — and this is the case on most phones I see. Tap Back up now, on Wi-Fi, and wait for it to finish. Turn on Include videos if the family videos matter to you (it makes the backup larger).

On Android the backup goes to Google Drive under your Gmail account. On iPhone it goes to iCloud. Remember which Google or Apple account it is — that is the account you must sign into on the new phone.

Android → Android

  1. On the old phone, make a fresh backup (above).
  2. On the new phone, sign into the same Google account during setup.
  3. Install WhatsApp, verify your number, and it will offer to Restore from Google Drive. Tap it before you tap "Skip" — if you skip, you cannot restore later without reinstalling.
  4. Wait for media to finish downloading in the background before you wipe the old phone.

Newer phones also offer a direct transfer: Settings → Chats → Transfer chats → scan the QR code shown on the new phone. This copies everything over Wi-Fi without needing Drive space, and it is faster.

iPhone → iPhone

If you restore the new iPhone from an iCloud or computer backup of the old one, WhatsApp comes across automatically with all chats. If you set the new iPhone up as new, install WhatsApp and choose Restore from iCloud when asked — the same Apple ID is required.

Android → iPhone (or iPhone → Android)

This used to be impossible; now it is built in but must be done during initial setup of the new phone, not afterwards.

  • Android → iPhone: use Apple's "Move to iOS" app on the Android; WhatsApp appears in the list of things to transfer.
  • iPhone → Android: during Android setup, choose to copy from an iPhone with the cable; Samsung phones use Smart Switch. WhatsApp is included.

If the new phone is already set up, you have to factory-reset it and start again. Annoying, but it is the only supported way.

Three things people lose anyway

  • Chats older than the backup — if the last backup was 2023, anything after that is on the old phone only. Back up first, always.
  • Media that was deleted from the phone gallery — WhatsApp keeps a reference, not the file. If you cleared "WhatsApp Images" to save space, those photos are gone from the backup too.
  • Old phone number — if you also changed number, use Settings → Account → Change number on the old phone before moving. Otherwise your groups see a stranger join.

Keep the old phone charged and untouched for a week after the move. If anything is missing, you can still go back to it.