Confused about changing number and phone in this situation!

[danstar10]

Hi,
I'm a little confused about WhatsApp numbers and devices and what I should do in this situation. I'll try keep this brief!

I had my phone stolen abroad while travelling with my sim in.
I bought a new phone and sim. I couldn't transfer my WhatsApp account to the new number (let's call number B) as you need the old sim card (number A) so I made a totally new WhatsApp account I used for the rest of my travels with num B.
I am now back home and have managed to get a new sim with my old number (num A) from my provider.

I just put that in my new phone but if friends send to num B. I still get the messages, and I got no backdated message from num A account when I put the new sim in the phone.

Soooo. My question is, do I just need to use the change number feature on the new phone from num B to A, and I'll get all the backdated messages from my old number?

And there is no way to 'merge' the two accounts right...?

Cheers!
Dan

 

[hallux]

So..

Your backups are tied to the number AND Google account. The number needs to match for the backup in Drive to be restored automatically (as you discovered when you got your new phone initially). Now - how Whatsapp handles having two backups from two numbers on the same account (or even IF it does) I'm not entirely sure.

You are correct that you can't merge them since you'll not be able to be on both numbers.

 

[danstar10]

Cool. I'm not too fussed about chat history, just getting unseen and new messages.

So in theory I should be able to swap back and forth between the old and new number on this phone to check if each account is getting messages?

I'm still confused how this phone is getting messages to the number B with number A sim inserted tho... I guess the hardware itself is registered to the number now so the sim doesn't matter??

 

[Rukbat]

The only place the SIM number is used is between your carrier's base station and your phone. From there back, it's your phone number, no matter what SIM number that phone number is assigned to.

Apps also work by Google accounts.

So if you have the old phone number and the old Google account in the phone, you should be able to use the old WhatsApp number. As for your new WhatsApp account, that would depend on whether you were using the same Google Account when you created it (and possibly on the phone number you were using - I didn't develop WhatsApp, so I don't know if they go by google account, phone number of both). You can email android@support.whatsapp.com and ask them.