Problems transferring WhatsApp data to new phone

[bimmerdriver]

I've been using whatsapp on a samsung gs5. I'm in the process of moving over to a samsung gs7. (I have already registered the new sim card.) I backed up whatsapp on the old phone using google drive. The backup completed without any error. Then I opened whatsapp on the new phone and verified the number. I understood whatsapp was supposed to automatically restore the chats and media from google drive, but that didn't happen. Whatsapp created a new database and I started receiving messages right away. I copied the entire whatsapp folder off the old phone, backed up the new folder and moved the old folder into place. Whatsapp did not load it. None of the chats or media were visible. I was going to deinstall and reinstall whatsapp, but it's pre-installed on my phone so I can't do that. Is there a way to restore the chats and media from the old phone onto the new phone, preferably preserving the new chats and media? I emailed whatsapp support, but they take forever to respond so I'm trying here.

 

[srkmagnus]

Re: Problems moving whatsapp chats and media to another device

I've been using whatsapp on a samsung gs5. I'm in the process of moving over to a samsung gs7. (I have already registered the new sim card.) I backed up whatsapp on the old phone using google drive. The backup completed without any error. Then I opened whatsapp on the new phone and verified the number. I understood whatsapp was supposed to automatically restore the chats and media from google drive, but that didn't happen. Whatsapp created a new database and I started receiving messages right away. I copied the entire whatsapp folder off the old phone, backed up the new folder and moved the old folder into place. Whatsapp did not load it. None of the chats or media were visible. I was going to deinstall and reinstall whatsapp, but it's pre-installed on my phone so I can't do that. Is there a way to restore the chats and media from the old phone onto the new phone, preferably preserving the new chats and media? I emailed whatsapp support, but they take forever to respond so I'm trying here.

It looks like you are doing it right. Did you insert the same SD card? I believe there is a file there when the backup was saved to Google Drive and it may be needed to pull the data from the Drive account and restore. Take a look at this FAQ and see if it helps: https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/android/20887921#restore

 

[bimmerdriver]

Re: Problems moving whatsapp chats and media to another device

It looks like you are doing it right. Did you insert the same SD card? I believe there is a file there when the backup was saved to Google Drive and it may be needed to pull the data from the Drive account and restore. Take a look at this FAQ and see if it helps: https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/android/20887921#restore

I didn't use an SD card. I understood from the whatsapp website that it would restore from google drive. It didn't. As soon as I started whatsapp on the new phone, it started receiving new chats and media without restoring the chats and media from the backup. Now I'm kind of stuck. I have new chats and media on the new phone and I don't know how to restore the two years of chats and media from the old phone, particularly without overwriting the new chats and media. Still no reply from whatsapp support.

 

[bimmerdriver]

Re: Problems moving whatsapp chats and media to another device

I finally received a response from whatsapp support. There is no way to restore the chats and media from before the account was transferred to the new device, at least not without losing everything since. What a f*cking brain-damaged feature. Thanks for nothing, whatsapp support.

 

[Rukbat]

Trivial if they key by date and time, impossible if they don't. I agree with your assessment, though - this is something someone should have thought of in advance.

 

[bimmerdriver]

I agree, it should not be difficult to support this capability. I'm particularly annoyed because when I validated the account on the new phone, it did not prompt to restore the backup. It immediately created a new database. I think it's because whatsapp was pre-installed on my phone, but there is no way to prove it.