How to Switch From WhatsApp to Telegram – Complete Guide
After the infamousWhatsApp privacy policy update, there’s a slew of people jumping ships to Telegram. If you are one of those, there’s good news for you. In therecent update, Telegram has added the ability to import your chat history from WhatsApp.
So, if you’ve been planning to jump to Telegram, there’s one less thing to worry about. Here’s a complete step by step guide.
Why Switch to Telegram
We have talked aboutWhatsApp vs Telegramin the past. However, even if we keep aside thecontroversial WhatsApp privacy policy, another reason to switch to Telegram are additional features.
For instance,Telegramalready had the disappearing messages, multiple group admins, and public groups feature way earlier than WhatsApp.
To list down a couple more, here are highlights of Telegram:
Things to Keep in Mind
you’re able to move single chats as well as group chats to Telegram, and continue the conversation there, as long as each WhatsApp user has a Telegram account. If a WhatsApp user doesn’t have a Telegram account, you will see their contact number in place of their name.
You have to move each chat individually (per-chat basis). As of now, there’s no way to move all your WhatsApp chats to Telegram at once.
While moving the chat, you have the option to move WhatsApp chat histories with or without their images. All text, links, and emojis are transferred by default. Media files take more space and also bandwidth.
If you have the Telegram app already installed on your phone, make sure you check for the update, as this feature was introduced only a few days ago. For iOS, this feature is available for version 7.4 or higher. For Android, the Telegram version varies with the device, so make sure to check the Play Store for the latest version.
DownloadTelegram for Android
DownloadTelegram for iOS
Once you have downloaded the Telegram app, open it. The first page will be an introduction. Kindly skip past it and enter your mobile number on the next screen. Telegram will verify your phone number by sending a one-time passcode.
Once you have completed other formalities such as entering your first name, last name and choosing a unique username, you are ready to import your chats from WhatsApp.
2a. Move Your Chats From WhatsApp to Telegram on Android
Open WhatsApp, andfind the chatyou want to move to Telegram, and tap on it to open the chat. Next, tap on thethree-dot buttonon the top-right of the chat you want to export, and look for the “Export Chat” option, and then select “More.” This will open the Android Share Sheet at the bottom of the screen, from there, selectTelegram.
This action will open the Telegram app on your phone. Here,choose the conversationwhere you want to import the messages. From the pop-up message, tap the “Import” button. Once done, you’ll see the completion prompt. Tap the “Done” button. You will have to repeat the same process for each chat that you want to move to Telegram from WhatsApp. All the imported messages will have a small “Imported” label on them.
2b. Move Your Chats From WhatsApp to Telegram on iOS
Open the relevant conversation on WhatsApp that you would like to move to Telegram, and tap the group or contact name from the top of the chat to open its info screen. The “Export Chat” option opens the iOS Share Sheet, where you’ll see the option to select Telegram. Select a Telegram chat to import the messages.
3: Delete Your WhatsApp Account
Once you have moved all your chats to Telegram, the next step is to delete your WhatsApp account. Open WhatsApp and tapMore options > Settings > Account > Delete my account.Note that you’re able to also take abackup of your WhatsAppchats and groups which is a good idea, just in case.
Once you delete your WhatsApp account, all your chats are deleted immediately and you lose access to your account forever. Therefore, I recommend you do not delete your WhatsApp account in a hurry and wait for all your contacts to switch to Telegram first.
Closing Words: Moving Chats from WhatsApp to Telegram
This was a quick guide on how to move your WhatsApp chat history to Telegram before you say your final goodbyes. If you still need to convince your friends to jump ships from WhatsApp, here’s a good article explainingWhatsApp vs Telegram, Which One to Choose?
Pratik works as an In-house writer and video host at TechWiser. Former Programmer, Current writer. Loves tech in any form, quite optimistic about AI, data science and IoT. Talks extremely less but you betcha can geek out over anything on Twitter.
