How to import a WhatsApp chat to a new phone or Telegram

You can't import an exported chat back into WhatsApp. WhatsApp's help pages say an export is a text file, not a backup, and can't be re-imported. So how can you import a WhatsApp chat? It depends on where it should go. To move your chats to a new phone, restore a backup or use WhatsApp's chat transfer. To bring a chat into Telegram, share the export to Telegram. To read, search or keep it, open the export in a viewer.

Can you import a WhatsApp chat back into WhatsApp?

No. WhatsApp's help page on exporting says your chat history “can't be re-imported because it's a text file and not a backup file.” WhatsApp has no option to load a .txt or .zip export, on iPhone or Android.

An export and a backup do different jobs:

• An export is a copy for people to read. It holds the messages as lines of text, plus photos, voice messages and other files if you included media. The WhatsApp .zip file explains what's inside.
• A backup is made by WhatsApp, for WhatsApp. It goes to your Google Account on Android or to iCloud on iPhone, and it is what WhatsApp restores chats from.

So the only ways to get chats back into WhatsApp are a backup or a transfer from a phone that still has them. WhatsApp can't do it for you either: its help pages say your chat history isn't stored on its servers.

If your chats are already missing

Check for a backup before you do anything else. In WhatsApp, go to Settings > Chats > Chat backup. If there is one, you'll see the time and size of the last backup.

Until you've checked, don't make a new backup, delete the old one or factory reset the phone. There is only one backup, so a new one replaces the backup that still holds your missing chats for good.

If a backup exists, restore it as below. If not, the export you made is your copy of the chat: it can't go back into WhatsApp, but you can still open, read and save it.

Move your chats to a new phone

This is often what people mean by importing WhatsApp chats. WhatsApp moves chats in two ways: a backup you restore on the new phone, or a transfer straight from the old one. Either way, the new phone needs the same phone number.

Android to Android, or iPhone to iPhone

Restore a backup. Make a fresh backup on the old phone first, under Settings > Chats > Chat backup. Then install WhatsApp on the new phone, verify the same number, and tap Restore (Android) or Restore Chat History (iPhone) when asked. You need the same Google Account or iCloud account that made the backup. Messages sent after the backup aren't in it.

Transfer chats. This needs no backup. The old phone sends your chats straight to the new one, and a QR code links the two.

1. On the old phone, open WhatsApp. On Android, tap More options > Settings > Chats > Transfer chats > Start. On iPhone, tap your profile picture > Chats > Transfer Chats to iPhone > Start.
2. On the new phone, install WhatsApp and verify your number. Choose Transfer from old phone on Android, or tap Continue on Transfer chat history to iPhone.
3. Scan the QR code on the new phone with the old phone's camera, and wait for the progress bar to finish.

The new phone must not be registered on WhatsApp before you start. Keep both phones close together, plugged in, unlocked and with Wi-Fi on.

Android to iPhone

Backups don't cross over: one made on Android can't be restored on an iPhone, or the other way round. Switching always goes through a transfer.

WhatsApp uses Apple's Move to iOS app on the Android phone, while you set up the iPhone. The iPhone must be new or factory reset. If you've already set it up and used it, this transfer isn't available. You'll need Android 5 or later, iOS 15.5 or later, and both phones plugged in and on the same Wi-Fi.

1. Open Move to iOS on the Android phone and enter the code the iPhone shows.
2. On the Transfer Data screen, select WhatsApp. Tap Start and wait while WhatsApp prepares your chats. It signs you out on Android when they're ready.
3. Tap Next to go back to Move to iOS, then Continue, and wait for the transfer to finish.
4. Install WhatsApp on the iPhone, log in with the same number and tap Start when asked.

Your call history, display name and media received over Channels don't come across.

iPhone to Android

WhatsApp handles this one itself. It has to happen before you activate WhatsApp on the Android phone.

1. On the iPhone, open WhatsApp and go to Chats > Transfer chat history > Transfer to Android. Tap Continue when the chats are ready.
2. On the Android phone, open WhatsApp, verify the same number and tap Allow so the phones can connect. A QR code appears.
3. Scan it with the iPhone. Tap Join when asked to join the Wi-Fi network, and the transfer starts.
4. When it's done, tap Next on the Android phone.

Call history comes across this way. Your display name, status updates and media received over Channels don't.

Rules for every route

• No merging. A transfer can't combine your old chats with chats already on the new phone. Whichever set you transfer replaces the other.
• New number? WhatsApp can't move chats to a different number. Change the number on the old phone first, then move.
• Not in WhatsApp Business. WhatsApp says these transfers don't work in its Business app for now.
• Skip other transfer apps. WhatsApp's help pages say they aren't supported and may cause loss of chats.
• Leave the old phone alone until you've checked that everything arrived. A failed transfer doesn't delete your chats, but a reset does.

Import the chat into Telegram

Telegram can import a WhatsApp chat, private or group, straight from the export. It added this in January 2021, and its developer documentation still describes the import today.

1. Start the export in WhatsApp. On iPhone, tap the contact or group name > Export chat. On Android, tap the three dots > More > Export chat. The export guide has every step.
2. Choose with or without media. With media, videos and documents come across too.
3. Pick Telegram in the share menu. Then choose the Telegram chat the messages should go into, and confirm.

Before you import, know that:

• The messages are imported into the current day, but each one keeps its original time stamp.
• Everyone in that Telegram chat will see them.
• Telegram's developer documentation says imports usually work into a private chat with a mutual contact, or a group where you're an admin who can change the group's info.

Open the export to read, search or keep it

Sometimes “import” just means getting the chat onto a computer to read. The export itself is all you need. Can't find it? See where a WhatsApp export is saved.

• Read it. The free chat viewer opens a .zip or .txt export in your browser, with no upload and no account. Save it as a PDF with every message dated and numbered, as plain text, or as a single web page.
• Search it. Open the text file or the web page and use Find. Or take the CSV into a spreadsheet: one row per message, with date, time, sender and type in their own columns, ready to sort and filter.
• Keep it. A backup isn't a lasting copy. WhatsApp keeps one backup per account, each new one replaces the last, and a backup more than 120 days old may not restore. An export is a file you can store anywhere, so keep one of any chat that matters.
• Read the voice messages. The viewer lists them but doesn't transcribe them. For that, choose the .zip, exported with media, on the upload page. LogMyChat shows a free overview first, with one voice message transcribed free and the exact price. Pay once for that chat to get every voice message as text, under the date and time it was sent. Photos, videos and documents are never uploaded. Transcripts can contain mistakes, so check the ones that matter.

A made-up example: Omar's phone was stolen and he never turned on backups, so his chat with his late grandmother is gone from WhatsApp. He still has an export he emailed himself two years ago. It can't go back into WhatsApp, but the viewer turns it into a PDF with every message dated, ready to print.

If your export is ready, open it in the free viewer and save a copy you can read anywhere.