Whatsapp - how to go back and forth between android and iOS

[asheenlevrai]

hey

 

I'm a long term Android user. I also use several Windows PCs and a few macs (running macOS). I never owned an iPhone though.

 

Now I recently received an iPhone that I need to use from time to time. But I won't definitively switch from Android to iPhone, I'll swap my SIM card from one device to the other depending on which one I need at the moment.

 

Since, I've never been an iPhone user, I'm not familiar with Apple's limitations on iOS. Please let me know if there are any that I should be aware of.

 

So far, my main concern is about Whatsapp...

As far as I understand, on my Android phone(s), Whatsapp performs its backups onto my Google account. It seems like I cannot chose another option for the target of the backups (like another cloud service or an external storage device).

As far as I understand, on iPhone, Whatsapp performs its backups onto iCloud. Again, it seems like I cannot chose another option for the target of the backups (like another cloud service or my Google account).

 

So when I'll swap from Android to iPhone (and back), if I understand correctly, I'll end up in a shitty situation where my chats will be incomplete on Whatsapp. I'll see only the "Android part" on my Android phone and only the "iPhone part" on my iPhone. Is that right? Is there any way I could avoid this issue? I mean without going through an hour-long 20-steps process every time I swap my SIM card from one device to the other?

 

Thank you very much in advance for your help..

Best,

-a-

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

39 minutes ago, asheenlevrai said:

hey

 

I'm a long term Android user. I also use several Windows PCs and a few macs (running macOS). I never owned an iPhone though.

 

Now I recently received an iPhone that I need to use from time to time. But I won't definitively switch from Android to iPhone, I'll swap my SIM card from one device to the other depending on which one I need at the moment.

 

Since, I've never been an iPhone user, I'm not familiar with Apple's limitations on iOS. Please let me know if there are any that I should be aware of.

 

So far, my main concern is about Whatsapp...

As far as I understand, on my Android phone(s), Whatsapp performs its backups onto my Google account. It seems like I cannot chose another option for the target of the backups (like another cloud service or an external storage device).

As far as I understand, on iPhone, Whatsapp performs its backups onto iCloud. Again, it seems like I cannot chose another option for the target of the backups (like another cloud service or my Google account).

 

So when I'll swap from Android to iPhone (and back), if I understand correctly, I'll end up in a shitty situation where my chats will be incomplete on Whatsapp. I'll see only the "Android part" on my Android phone and only the "iPhone part" on my iPhone. Is that right? Is there any way I could avoid this issue? I mean without going through an hour-long 20-steps process every time I swap my SIM card from one device to the other?

 

Thank you very much in advance for your help..

Best,

-a-

It's possible... but it's a hassle. The target device needs to be reset to factory settings as it uses the migration option you typically find when setting up a new Android or iPhone. If you're using a Samsung device, you can use Smart Switch without doing a factory reset. 

 

https://faq.whatsapp.com/686469079565350/?helpref=hc_fnav

https://faq.whatsapp.com/1295296267926284/?helpref=hc_fnav

[asheenlevrai]

1 minute ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

It's possible... but it's a hassle. The target device needs to be reset to factory settings as it uses the migration option you typically find when setting up a new Android or iPhone. If you're using a Samsung device, you can use Smart Switch without doing a factory reset. 

 

https://faq.whatsapp.com/686469079565350/?helpref=hc_fnav

https://faq.whatsapp.com/1295296267926284/?helpref=hc_fnav

Thanks for your reply.

 

OK, so it'll be painful. I'll need to manually perform this migration procedure every time... Right?

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

17 minutes ago, asheenlevrai said:

Thanks for your reply.

 

OK, so it'll be painful. I'll need to manually perform this migration procedure every time... Right?

Yep since Whatsapps stores the backups in completely different services for Android and iOS. Don't quote me on this, but it's likely a limitation made by Google and Apple respectively. 

[asheenlevrai]

14 hours ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Yep since Whatsapps stores the backups in completely different services for Android and iOS. Don't quote me on this, but it's likely a limitation made by Google and Apple respectively. 

Since Whatsapp is from Meta, it would be "nice" to at least have an option to store the backups on a FB account. What would be even better is to have the option to store them locally (for Android phones with SD cards) or select a cloud service (like Dropbox or whatever).