1. Make a recent backup on your old phone
Before touching anything on the new phone, the first step is to make sure your old Android phone has as recent a WhatsApp backup as possible. To do this, open WhatsApp on the phone you're about to stop using and go to Settings → Chats → Chat backup. There you'll see the date of the last saved backup; if it isn't from today or from just a few hours ago, tap Back up now and wait for the process to finish completely before moving on to any other step.
It's essential that the phone is connected to the internet (wifi is best if you have a lot of photos and videos in your chats) and that the active Google Drive account is the same Google account you'll use afterward on the new phone. If you're not sure which account is set up, check the email address shown just below the backup option on that same screen.
2. Install WhatsApp on the new phone with the same number
With the backup already made, turn on the new Android phone and, during its initial setup or right after, sign in with the same Google account you used for the backup. This point is key: if you sign in with a different Google account on the new phone, WhatsApp won't find the saved backup and won't be able to offer to restore it.
Next, download WhatsApp from Google Play and install it as you normally would. The first time you open it, the app will ask you to verify your phone number: enter the same number you used on the old phone and confirm it with the code you'll receive by SMS or phone call.
- Same Google account: the one used to save the backup to Drive.
- Same phone number: the one linked to your WhatsApp account.
- Active internet connection: needed to verify the number and, later, to download the backup.
3. Restore the backup when WhatsApp detects it
Right after verifying your number, if everything matches, WhatsApp will automatically show a screen letting you know it has found a Google Drive backup linked to that account and number, and it will ask if you want to restore it. Tap Restore and don't close the app or lock the screen while the chats are downloading; if you have a lot of saved photos and videos, this step can take several minutes, so be patient.
Once the restore finishes, the app will ask you to continue with the usual setup (profile name, photo, contacts and media permissions), and once you're in, you'll find your chats, groups and files exactly as they were on your previous phone up to the moment of the last backup.
4. The alternative: transfer chats directly between two Android phones
Besides the Google Drive backup, the most recent versions of WhatsApp include a direct transfer feature between two Android phones, which moves your chats without going through Google Drive or the internet. You'll find it on the old phone, under Settings → Chats → Transfer chats to an Android device, and it works by connecting both phones over wifi or with a cable, depending on what the app offers you at the time.
When you start the transfer, WhatsApp will guide you through scanning a code or accepting the connection between the two phones, and the chats are then moved directly between both devices. Keep in mind that this option is newer and isn't available on all models or all versions of WhatsApp, so if you can't find it in your phone's menu, the Google Drive backup method explained above is still valid and works just as well.
5. What to do if the restore option doesn't appear or fails
If the restore screen doesn't appear when you install WhatsApp on the new phone, or the process gets stuck halfway, go through these points before giving up:
- Storage space: check that the new phone has enough free space to download the whole backup, including photos and videos.
- Same Google account: double-check in the phone's Settings that the active account is the one used for the backup.
- Same phone number: make sure you verified WhatsApp with the exact number linked to the backup.
- Reinstall the app: if it still doesn't appear, uninstall WhatsApp from the new phone, restart it, and install it again from scratch; sometimes the restore prompt only shows up on a clean install.
If the option still doesn't show up after checking all of this, the backup on the old phone may never have finished. In that case, if you still have that phone and it has WhatsApp installed, go back to the first step, make a new backup, and repeat the whole process from the beginning.