Moving to Telegram from WhatsApp? Here's how to import your old chat history

WhatsApp, earlier in the month, announced a revision of terms of service and user-privacy of its messenger app. It said that the user-information and transaction did with shop owners on WhatsApp Business, will be shared with Facebook and subsidiaries. This drew a lot of flak from users and tech critics on why WhatsApp is not giving the option for the user to reject it and instead asked them to uninstall the app if they don't like it.

This forced WhatsApp to postpone the effective date of the terms of service from February 8 to May 15. However, many have decided to shift their base to other apps that have a better user-privacy policy and among them, Telegram and Signal are the top two contenders.

Telegram now allows users to import old chats from other apps. Credit: Telegram

Now, Telegram has announced that users can now upload their WhatsApp chat history to the former's messenger app.

Here's how to do shift WhatsApp data to Telegram:

On Apple iPhone
Open the Contact Info or Group Info page in WhatsApp, tap Export Chat, then choose Telegram in the Share menu.

Note: WhatsApp for iOS also lets you export chats directly from the chat list. Swipe left on a chat, then choose '…' > Export Chat

Telegram now allows users to import old chats from other apps. Credit: Telegram

On Android mobile
Open WhatsApp chat, tap ⋮ > More > Export Chat, then choose Telegram in the Share menu:

It should be noted that Messages will be imported into the current day but will also include their original timestamps. All members of the chat on Telegram will see the messages.

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