How to move your WhatsApp chats to Telegram
27.09.2022
Telegram is an online messaging app that was released in 2013. Despite going live on the App store almost a decade ago, most of its growth occurred during the pandemic period. The attraction of switching to Telegram for a lot of users is the encryption security it offers and the messaging app being seen to be separate from ‘big tech’ (Telegram is not owned by a parent corporation unlike its rivals: Messenger, Skype, and WhatsApp).
Although the most popular social messaging app, WhatsApp, offers similar security features in its encryption technology, WhatsApp’s parent company Meta has had a number of security issues over the years, most notably with Facebook and Messenger.
It is possible to move your current chats on WhatsApp to Telegram on both Android and iOS, as illustrated below. Unfortunately, these chats will have to be extracted and moved one by one, as there is no process to move all of them at once.
Moving WhatsApp chats to Telegram on Android
Click on the Settings button (shown below in the top-right hand corner with three dots)
Select More at the bottom of the list
Select Export Chat to move your WhatsApp conversation
An option for Telegram will appear at this point, providing you have the application installed. This will transfer your entire conversation history, so you would be able to delete WhatsApp and retain your messages. You will also be able to choose whether or not to include Media (images/videos shared in the conversation history) in this transfer.
Moving WhatsApp chats to Telegram on iOS
Select the Chat Name box (highlighted in red below)
Towards the bottom of the Chat Information you will find the Export Chat option
You will now be prompted to export with or without Media (photos/videos shared in the conversation history)
How do I backup my chats on Telegram?
Your chat history will automatically be backed up in the Telegram cloud. This means that if you switch devices, the full history will already be there to view.
Alternatively, if you use Telegram Desktop you can choose to export your chats in order to save the whole conversation on your PC or laptop. Once you are confident that your new Telegram chat is secure, you can delete the Export Files from WhatsApp under the Files section of your mobile device.
For more information about Telegram and other messaging apps, see these blogs:
