WhatsApp is an application now indispensable for anyone, to send messages for free and also to make free calls to their contacts. WhatsApp is linked to its phone number and can only be used with it, since in fact it is the tool with which we can be seen by other users of the service and with whom we can authenticate with our account. So what happens if, for any reason, you change your phone number ">
Note : the new phone number must already be active and able to receive SMS and calls, in order to complete the procedure correctly. If we only have one phone with the old SIM, make sure to immediately insert the new SIM into a temporary phone, so that we can read the code immediately or receive the confirmation call from WhatsApp.
Change WhatsApp number on Android
To change the phone number in WhatsApp on an Android smartphone, open the messaging app, tap on the top right of the three dots (in the main menu, not in a chat), go to the Settings -> Account path and select the Change item number .
Press the Next button, then enter the old phone number and the new number in the appropriate fields provided by the app. Once confirmed, we await the arrival of the SMS code on the new number, which we will insert in the app to confirm the change of number. If after 5 minutes we do not receive any SMS message, we can press the Resend SMS buttons to try to send the code again via message or Call me to receive the code via an international call (to whom we will have to answer: a registered voice will dictate the code to use in the app). Once the change is made, we switch off the phone and place the new SIM inside it, so that we can continue to use our WhatsApp chats without problems.
We can check if the new number has been correctly received by WhatsApp by going to the Settings -> Account path, tapping on our name and checking in Info and phone number if there is a new mobile number to be used from now on.
NOTE : if we immediately insert the new SIM into the phone and open WhatsApp, the app itself will ask us to register the new number to continue using the account; we advise you to act separately using two telephones, so as to have greater control over the procedure and avoid errors or problems in the transfer.
Change WhatsApp number on iPhone
To change the number of WhatsApp on iPhone, open the app, tap on the bottom right of the Settings icon, open the Account menu and finally tap on Change number to start the procedure.
The procedure is practically identical to that seen on Android smartphones: in the welcome screen, press Next on the top right and fill in the fields with the old number (in international prefix and old phone number ) and the new number (in international prefix and new phone number ). We confirm the changes and await the arrival of the new SMS code on the new phone number, which we will insert into the app to end the transfer. If we do not receive anything within 5 minutes, we can always use the Call me button to receive a call with a recorded voice (which will dictate the activation code) or press Resend SMS to attempt a new sending of the code via SMS.
At the end of the transfer, we verify that the new number is correctly registered in our account by going to WhatsApp Settings again, press on the name and check the Phone number field to see if the correct number is present.
NOTE : even with iPhone we recommend using two phones to make the transfer correctly and to use the new SIM in the iPhone only after having already changed the phone number associated with the account.
Conclusions
Changing the phone number in WhatsApp is important, since only through it the company recognizes the account that we are already using as "ours", also keeping the related chats, related messages, calls and all other information. If, on the other hand, we immediately install the WhatsApp app and use the new phone number on it, we will create a new account and lose the ability to transfer our old chats. The phone number is also essential to restore the WhatsApp backup via Google Drive or iCloud, as seen in our guide on How automatic and manual Whatsapp Backup works .If we want to transfer the entire WhatsApp account from one phone to another, we recommend reading the guide on How to transfer Whatsapp from one phone to another or to another number .
If instead we need to recover deleted messages from WhatsApp backup, we can proceed by reading our article on how to recover deleted Whatsapp messages and restore backups .
