Telegram now lets you easily import chats and media from WhatsApp

What you need to know

• You can now import chats into Telegram from WhatsApp.
• The process can import text messages and shared media.
• You can import content into Telegram on iOS or Android.

Following recent controversies surrounding WhatsApp's privacy policies, many people are looking for the best WhatsApp alternatives. Unsurprisingly, Telegram wants people to swap over to its own communication app. Telegram shared that over 100 million people joined Telegram this January. The messaging app maker has a new trick up its sleeve to tempt even more people. Starting today, you can easily import messages and shared media from WhatsApp into Telegram.

Losing old messages is a major drawback that prevents many people from switching communication apps. Telegram is easing that switch with support for important content. The feature works on iOS and Android and can be used to move both text messages and media, such as videos and pictures.

WhatsApp supported exporting a chat already, but now you can choose a specific conversation within Telegram as a share destination. The process is a bit different on iOS and Android, but it's essentially selecting to export a chat within WhatsApp and then selecting Telegram in the Share menu.

The move isn't completely seamless, however. We've tried it out on Android and when moving a chat into Telegram, all of the text messages appeared as a text file. That's not nearly as seamless as content appearing as native messages within Telegram that you can easily search.

Based on Telegram's blog post explaining the feature, it appears much more native on iOS. In the video shared in the blog post, the messages from WhatsApp appear as actual messages within Telegram, which is much more convenient.