Telegram now supports chat migration from WhatsApp, other messaging apps

Even as WhatsApp continues to draw flak over a controversial privacy policy update announced earlier this month, rival Telegram is strengthening its product to step up its game.

Case in point, a new feature introduced by the London-headquartered messaging service allows users to import their chat history from WhatsApp or other instant messaging applications such as LINE and Kakao Talk. 

The capability, announced on Thursday via a blog post, works for both individual and group conversations and users can even migrate media files such as photos and videos included in them. 

The goal, Telegram said, is to make sure that users looking for a private communication experience get what they want on its app, along with the messages and memories from their older apps.

Users on Android and iOS can both use the new feature by using the export chat option in a particular conversation and selecting Telegram from the Share menu.

For WhatsApp, Android users would have to head over to ⋮> More > Export Chat, while those on iOS would need to open the Contact Info or Group Info page in WhatsApp and tap Export Chat.

However, it must be noted that once chat migration is completed, the moved messages will have original timestamps and will become visible to all member(s) of the conversation who are on Telegram.

WhatsApp’s now-deferred privacy policy change would enable certain metadata sharing with Facebook companies. 

Its update announcement drove immediate growth for several rival messaging platforms, with Telegram and California-based Signal gaining traction. 

Read: Why Signal is the new popular kid on the messaging platforms block

Telegram alone crossed the 500 million user mark, drawing more than 100 million new users in January. For comparison, WhatsApp has over 2 billion users worldwide.