WhatsApp Data Transfer Between Two Android Phones May Be Possible Without Google Drive

WhatsApp could soon allow data transfer or data migration from one Android smartphone to another without relying on Google Drive or any third-party cloud service provider. The instant messaging platform is reportedly testing a new feature that could allow offline data transfer when upgrading or switching Android smartphones. Let's see how WhatsApp users could transfer their chats offline.

WhatsApp Data Migration Without Cloud Storage?

WhatsApp data includes individual and group chats, images, videos, and voice messages. The iOS and Android apps for the instant messaging platform save this data locally. This data could soon be transferred or migrated from one Android smartphone to another locally, without relying on the internet or Google cloud services.

WhatsApp introduced the Move to iOS feature via the Move to iOS app last year. This feature allows users to move all their data from an Android smartphone to an iOS iPhone. Now the Meta-owned instant messaging app could allow Android-to-Android chat history transfer without needing Google drive backups.

How Will Local Chat History Transfer Work?

WhatsApp allows Android users to save chat history backups on Google Drive, a cloud storage service platform deeply integrated within the Android ecosystem. When a user switches to a new Android smartphone, they have to log into their Google account and then "pull" the chat backup to bring back all the chat history, images, videos, and other data of the WhatsApp app installed on the new phone.

Needless to say, this is a cumbersome process and it requires a reliable high-speed internet connection. Moreover, users often do not allow backup of images and videos as they take up a lot of space on Google Drive, which is limited to 15GB.

With the local data migration tool, WhatsApp users would be able to transfer all their WhatsApp chat data from one smartphone to another simply by going to WhatsApp Settings> Chats > Chat transfer to Android.

Despite the possibility of local data transfer in the near future, it is strongly advised to regularly back up data on Google Drive or Apple Cloud. This will ensure users can retrieve their data if they misplace their smartphones or experience other problems that prevent them from using WhatsApp on a device.