Telegram update lets you import chat history from WhatsApp, improves animations on Android

Ben Schoon | Jan 28 2021 - 7:21 am PT

This year has seen a spike in interest for secure messaging apps and one of our favorites, Telegram, is seizing the oppurtunity. With its latest update, Telegram is introducing the ability to import your chat history from other apps including WhatsApp.

In a blog post today, Telegram details what’s new in its app. Starting today, that includes the ability to export a conversation and all of its chat history from WhatsApp, Line, or KakaoTalk over to Telegram. Obviously, this is not an automatic process and will require some work from users, but it’s something that’s unique to Telegram and a whole lot better than just losing your message history entirely.

This new feature is available on both Android and iOS and works pretty well. For WhatsApp, it uses the normal export process, with the ZIP file generated just being imported to Telegram. The process works as follows for WhatsApp.

To move a chat from WhatsApp on iOS, open the Contact Info or Group Info page in WhatsApp, tap Export Chat, then choose Telegram in the Share menu.
On Android, open a WhatsApp chat, tap ⋮ > More > Export Chat, then choose Telegram in the Share menu

Bringing chat history over from WhatsApp isn’t the only new feature added to Telegram in this update, though. There are some new privacy enhancements including the ability to delete groups, secret chats, and call history for all parties at once. Voice Chats have also been enhanced with new volume controls and there’s also an improved audio player in this update. Other tweaks include a new reporting option for fake channels or groups, better accessibility with TalkBack and VoiceOver, and new greeting stickers for starting fresh conversations.

For Android users, another notable change is better animations across the board. Telegram doesn’t list all of the changes, but they include new animations when “downloading files, playing music, or loading chats.” You can see a few below.