What Happens When You Change WhatsApp Number

Mehvish Mushtaq is a computer engineer by degree. Her love for Android and gadgets led her to develop the first Android app for Kashmir. Known as Dial Kashmir, she won the prestigious Nari Shakti award from the President of India. She has been writing about technology for 6+ years and her favorite categories include how-to guides, explainers, tips and tricks for Android, iOS/iPadOS, social media, and web apps.

Arshmeet has been a tech tinkerer since childhood, but she realized her love for technology and writing about 5 years ago. Since then, she has been honing her skills and helping people figure out how things work, troubleshoot problems, choose the right app and products, and dig deep into the new and old concepts of technology. She is a self-professed Apple Enthusiast who loves debating what’s good and what’s not. It is her passion for finding techniques, hacks, apps, and products that make everyday life simpler.

There are two situations for changing your WhatsApp number,

Let’s see what happens when you change your WhatsApp number in both scenarios.

Scenario 1. Change WhatsApp Number on the Same Phone

You get two options here as well,

Scenario 1.1. What Happens When You Change Number Via WhatsApp

If you want to change your WhatsApp number on the same phone, WhatsApp provides a native way to do that. All you need to do is go to the settings and use theChange Number feature.

When you do so, here’s what happens to various things.

Firstly, your old WhatsApp number will be deleted. That means it will no longer appear in other WhatsApp contacts. If someone sends you a message on the old number (through existing chat history), it will not be delivered to you.

They will get a single grey tick on the message. Yourlast seenwill also disappear.

All your chats will be retained along with their media. Nothing will happen to them. Once you change the number in the app, you will not see any difference on your end.

Similar to individual chats,WhatsApp groupsalso stay. You will not be removed from any of them. A silent message will appear in the group that you have changed your number.

All your WhatsApp settings such as tones, privacy, and similar things will be migrated to the new WhatsApp number. You won’t have to set them up again.

Similarly, your profile information such as About and profile picture will also appear for your new number.

Since your old WhatsApp number will no longer be active, it’s important to inform people. There are two methods to notify individual contacts.

Firstly, WhatsApp provides a native option. When you use the change WhatsApp number feature, you will be asked whether you want to notify your contacts. Here. you’ll get three options — All contacts, Contacts I have chats with or Custom.

You can choose one or skip it. The message will be sent from the new number.

Secondly, you can use thebroadcast list featureto tell others that you are changing the number. Kindly note that you must do so using the old WhatsApp number as broadcast messages require the contact to be saved on the recipient’s phone.

Since they won’t have your new number, the message won’t be delivered. So do it from the old number first. When it comes to your groups, WhatsApp automatically notifies them when you change your number.

Note: If you come across an error while changing the number, there’s no way to revert this change. While you can regain your old chats, you’ll have to rejoin the groups manually.

Scenario 1.2. What Happens When You Change WhatsApp Number by Uninstalling the App

If you have already uninstalled and reinstalled WhatsApp on your phone to register the new number, two things can happen. You can either verify the old number again or follow the native method of changing the number as mentioned above. If you do so, all the things mentioned above will remain true.

If you choose to verify with the new number, then here’s what happens:

If you have simply uninstalled WhatsApp, then your old WhatsApp account will still be active. It’s a profile picture, privacy settings, and groups will remain on WhatsApp servers for 45 days. You can verify the old number again, and all of them will be back on your phone.

But if you deleted the account before uninstalling WhatsApp, then nothing will be saved in WhatsApp servers. You will have been removed from all your WhatsApp groups.

Also, people can still message your old number (if you uninstalled it), but as WhatsApp is not active on any phone, you will not get it. If the Last Seen At was active, they will see the last time when you were active on the number.

Interestingly, if you verify the old number again, you will get those messages. Read in detailwhat happens when you uninstall WhatsApp.

When you verify the new number on the same phone, you will be offered the option to restore the chat backup. By doing so, your previous messages will appear again in your chat list.

On Android, this is possible in two ways —local backupand Google Drive. On iPhone, only iCloud backup works. So if you didn’t use iCloud backup, you won’t be able to restore old messages on the new WhatsApp number.

Since groups are associated with your old number, they will not appear on the new number. You will have toask the adminto re-add you to the groups.

You will have to notify everyone about changing the number individually. If your contact number is saved on their phones, you can use the broadcast list feature to notify them.

Scenario 2. Change WhatsApp Number on Different Phone

Again there are two possibilities here,

Scenario 2.1. Setting Up WhatsApp Using New Number

If you register the new number WhatsApp directly on your latest phone, then it will work as a completely fresh number. It will not restore your messages, groups, settings, or anything else. You will have to start afresh.

Scenario 2.2. Installing WhatsApp Using Old Number and Then Switching

To switch to a different phone with a new number while retaining chats and groups, you can set up WhatsApp with old number first. Then once all setup is complete, use the Change WhatsApp number feature.

Or you can do the reverse as well. Change WhatsApp number on the old phone and then move to the new device.

Note: Notably, if you’re switching operating systems i.e., iOS to Android or vice-versa, the method to recover old chats may vary. So be vary of that.

Drawbacks of Changing Your WhatsApp Number

WhatsApp has smoothen out the process of changing number via the built-in feature, so it’s pretty much a cake walk. However, there are still some disadvantages

While the real problem arises if you don’t use the native method, as there are chances of group exits, chat loss, and more.

FAQs About Changing Your Number on WhatsApp

It will depend on the method you use for switching numbers. If you use WhatsApp built-in option, you’ll retain the group membership. However, with any other method, you may have to rejoin the groups.

No, the chats can only be restored from the backup. So, they can’t see your conversations unless they have access to your iCloud/Google Drive/local storage. However, WhatsApp keeps the associated data (profile picture, about, etc.) stored for 45 days, they might get access to that if they use the number within that period.

No. While you can use thesame number on multiple devices, WhatsApp doesn’t allow two accounts to have the same number. You can’t change your WhatsApp number to one that’s already in use, unless you have removed or deactivated the associated account.

No, if you choose send notification to your contacts, it will not include the blocked contacts. As long as you change WhatsApp number via built-in option, the platform maintains the blocked list associated with the account.

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Last updated on 12 August, 2024

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