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Comment by vodkapump | Hacker News Reader

> easy backup when you get a new phone

I just recently got a new phone, and used the new feature to do this (uses wi-fi direct) and I have to say it seemed like it would be easy enough for non-techy users to use.

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Try transferring from an iOS phone to Android. Try transferring messages to a new desktop (you can't).

It's 2021, I don't want to be platform locked and none of the other popular messaging apps have that issue.

Last I checked (about a year ago I think) Whatsapp backups were platform-locked as well.

They are working on it https://9to5mac.com/2021/04/05/whatsapp-chat-history-migrati...

> Last I checked (about a year ago I think) Whatsapp backups were platform-locked as well.

I'm not sure why you are being downvoted. Whatsapp backups are still platform locked to this day. But that may change soon.

https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/whatsapp-may-s...

You can get a dump of all your messages with someone pretty easily.

Not completely. WhatsApp pushed out an Android-compatible backup option on their BlackBerry 10 app when they announced that they were shutting the app down a few years ago. But it was behind a notice that said it was 'not supported', even though it worked fine. Only to Android though.

Whatsapp does, so it's probably not that critical of a feature.

Most people don't switch platforms very often so it's not a big deal to them and just a corner case. Also most people don't care that much about old messages so again a corner case.

I transferred between two Android phones, and had to re-pair desktop clients. It all worked, but now the desktop client won't receive messages I've sent via phone.

Also video calls still don't synchronize orientation. It's very hard not to stoop down to use more vulgar language to express my feelings about this.

> Also video calls still don't synchronize orientation.

This is insanely annoying in real life.

That's great to know, I didn't know they had improved on that front. Last time I tried to do it you had to manually copy a file from a micro-SD card (and it was only supported on Android) and then you had to copy a crypto key. In the end I couldn't get it to work and gave up.

Unfortunately day-to-day my issue is more with syncing the desktop to the phone client's history and as far as I know it still won't let me do that.

An other super convenient feature of Whatsapp and Telegram is that they offer a pure web interface with basic functionality which is super convenient if you're in a pinch and don't want to/can't install the standalone desktop application.

Yeah, but consider the use case where you lose your phone in an accident or someone steals it. You can recover your sim card, you know your recovery password. But you'll be SoL and you won't be able to recover the history of all of your group and individual chats. This sucks.

There's a backup function. Maybe they should add some cloud drive integration to that feature.

Signal for Android allows backup. Signal for iOS doesn't.

My phone needed to be factory reset, where was my backup to restore from without purchasing a second phone?

I only just got this set up, but you can point the automatic backups to your SD card on Android. I guess some cloud sync app could pick it up from there or internal storage.

Signal for iOS disables backup.

Did you ever try to salvage data off a dead phone? Many of us only buy a new device when the old is fubar.

Not sure why this was downvoted. I switched phones yesterday and transferring signal with the direct wi-fi transfer was easier than transferring whatsapp, I do know that that used to not be the case.

because it is only relevant for one very specific type of 'switching phones'

Will that feature work if you drop your phone and it breaks? Or will you lose all your conversations and photos then?

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