WhatsApp: how to change your phone number?

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging application and many of you probably use it, but do you know how to change the phone number attached to your account? A tip to know if you ever had to change your phone number and still want to keep your current account.

WhatsApp works much differently than other messaging apps. Your phone number serves as your identifier. All conversations and newsgroups you belong to are associated with it and this data is encrypted. It is therefore not possible to import your history to a new number without following a very specific procedure.

Change WhatsApp phone number: how to do it?

Nothing prevents you from installing WhatsApp and starting from scratch with a new number. Only, if you intend to abandon the old number, it is better to recover your data on the new one. Otherwise, you will no longer be able to access your history., to the files exchanged, you will no longer see your friends' news and statuses and they will not see yours either.

Unless, of course, you send the number to all your contacts to save it. If you don't prefer this option, here's how to change WhatsApp number while keeping your old data. But before we start, let's clarify that it is essential to have access to your old account to initiate the process of changing your number.

You keep the same smartphone

If you want to change WhtasApp number using the same phone, it's even easier. Insert the new SIM card into the smartphone and follow the next steps. The old account must still be active at the time of the manipulation.

1. Open WhatsApp on your smartphone.
2. Tap three dots top right then Settings.
3. Go to Account > Change number. Read the message displayed on the screen then press Following.
4.  Enter your old telephone number then the new number in the two fields provided for this purpose and press Following.
5. Choose whether or not you want to notify your contacts of the number change. We strongly advise you to do so. You have the option of sending a notification to All contacts, to Contacts with whom you have ongoing discussions ou Personalize their campaigns (choose the contacts who will receive the notification). As for the groups you belong to, the notification will be sent in all of them, regardless of your choices.
6. Press Completed.
7. WhatsApp will ask you to confirm ownership of the new number. It is essential to be able to receive an SMS or a call to validate the process.

You change your smartphone

If you use the new number on another phone, it will still be necessary to carry out the steps described in the previous section. Again, having access to your old WhatsApp (not necessarily the old phone) is a must. Once the number has been changed from the old WhatsApp, all you have to do is configure WhatsApp on the new phone and restore your backups.

Also read: How to transfer WhatsApp conversations to another smartphone

1. install WhatsApp on the new smartphone.
2. Enter your new phone number and confirm that you are the owner (by SMS or call).
3. Restore Google Drive Backup.

This last step assumes that you had enabled backup in Google Drive on the old account. Better to have a recent backup.