WhatsApp now lets you transfer your chat history from Android to iPhone

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Previously, the only way to transfer chats from one phone to another was from the other phone to the other phone. The function was announced in a Facebook post. There were early signs of the feature, which is currently in the testing phase.

It has been difficult to transfer chats between the two mobile operating systems in the past. It is possible to transfer chats from one operating system to another, but not between the two systems.

The transfer process only works on new or factory reset phones, and only uses Apple's existing Move to iOS app for Android, which already helps move contacts, calendar entries, and more. If you want to move data from one phone to another, you need to follow the steps in theAndroid app. Once the phone is set up, use the same phone number to sign in to the messaging service. You should see your chat history on your phone.

If you want to start the transfer, you need to be running the latest versions of the two operating systems on your phone. If you already have a preexisting chat history, the imported history will cause it to be wiped out.