WhatsApp’s new privacy policy has managed to create quite a controversy in India that has seen millions of users in the country try out other messaging apps. Telegram has emerged as a popular alternative for many, but the biggest hurdle for most users is that all their important chats are present in WhatsApp. Telegram is looking to capitalize on the trend by offering users an option to import their WhatsApp chats to it.

WhatsApp itself does not offer an option to export its chats to any other messaging service. At best, it allows users to export a chat and its media content as a zip file or send the conversation as an email but that’s about it. Telegram has created a tool that uses the chat file exported by WhatsApp and imports them into an existing conversation in Telegram. If you are looking to import your WhatsApp chats to Telegram, below is how you can do it.

How to Import WhatsApp Chats to Telegram

Step 1: Open WhatsApp and go to the chat that you want to export. Tap the contact name on the top to bring up the Contact Info page.

Step 2: Select the Export Chat option. You will then be prompted to decide on whether you want to export the chat with the media or without it. Select an option depending on your preference.

Step 3: From the Share sheet that opens up, select Telegram and then select the contact to which you’d link to import the conversation.

Step 4: You don’t necessarily have to select the same contact whose chats you are exporting from WhatsApp. Confirm your selection by tapping Import. Depending on the size of the chat and media content, the importing process can take anywhere between a few seconds to a few minutes.

All imported chats will show in the Telegram conversation with an ‘Imported’ label along with the date on which they were sent or received.

While not perfect, Telegram’s tool will at least let you import all your important WhatsApp conversations to it so that you can ditch the latter. Do remember that while Telegram is more feature-rich than WhatsApp, its messages are not end-to-end encrypted by default. Instead, you will have to start a secret chat with a contact to ensure that all messages are safe and secure.