If you change your phone number, your main concern may be losing the old chats. But don’t worry, you can change your WhatsApp number without losing your chats if you follow these simple steps.
We may need to change our contact number for a variety of reasons, such as losing your old number, switching to a new service provider, or moving to a different country. While getting a new phone number will have no effect on most apps on your smartphone, changing it on WhatsApp can be a little more difficult. Previously, changing your phone number would have resulted in the loss of all your WhatsApp data and chats.
In 2017, WhatsApp introduced a new feature called Change Number, which allows you to easily migrate your old chats to your new WhatsApp number.
. Before you proceed with the steps to change WhatsApp numbers without losing chats, make sure that the new number can receive SMS or phone calls and has an active cellular connection.
Follow these steps to change your WhatsApp number without losing data.
- Open WhatsApp and locate to the Settings menu.
- The settings menu is located in the top-right corner of the screen for Android users. It is located at the bottom of the screen on iOS.
- Move to Account and then Change Number. “Changing your phone number will transfer your account info, groups, and settings,” you’ll see.
- Click the ‘Next’ button. You will now be prompted to enter your old and new phone numbers.
- After entering your numbers, press the ‘Next’ button. You will be asked if you want your contacts to be notified of your new phone number.
- You have three options: All contacts, Contacts I’m chatting with, or custom numbers. WhatsApp will automatically notify the groups of the number change. To finish, press the ‘Done’ button.
After that, WhatsApp will prompt you to register your new phone number. To complete the registration process, you will receive a six-digit code via SMS or phone call. Once completed, you will be able to view and access your old chats in their original format.
However, if you’re changing your phone as well as your number, you’ll need to make a backup of your chats on Google Drive or iCloud, depending on your old phone. To get your chats back, you’ll need to restore that backup on your new phone.
