When moving to a new iPhone, most people assume that all their WhatsApp contacts will automatically transfer—but that isn’t always the case. If the “Sync to Contacts” option isn’t enabled, WhatsApp stores numbers only within the app and not in your phone’s address book.
Note : This guide requires the old and the new phones to be avaliable - when you attempt to sign in on the new phone, it will sign you out on the old phone, If you need to switch back to the old phone to follow this Guide, you will need to be able to receive a SMS For verification to old phone.
This subtle detail can lead to missing names, unknown numbers in conversations, and a confusing start on your new phone—making it essential to understand how WhatsApp handles contact storage before performing a restore, but there is a extension that will help you where with the use of WhatsApp web.
This article is not sponsored by the developer of this Chrome extension
Firstly, you need to get this plugin for WhatsApp when used on the web which will link to Chrome:
Once you have exported the contacts you can remove this plugin as it no longer required after the export, so when installed, you need to allow the permissions as below:
Then from Chrome click on the Extensions option and pin the "WA Contacts Extractor"
Then from Chrome click on the Extensions option and pin the "WA Contacts Extractor"
If you activate the extension when not on WhatsApp web you will get an error as below:
Then from the iPhone in this location you will end up here:
Next we need to visit WebApp web on this link : https://web.whatsapp.com/ this will show you this which you will need to follow, on the iPhone that is Settings > Linked Devices to scan the QR code:
Then from the iPhone in this location you will end up here:
Then you will need to scan the QR code (notice the fork on my desk in the background and the apples there from M&S)
Then when you have scanned the image on the website you phone will confirm its not linked to WhatsApp website as below:
You then need to click the Extension, and this time you will notice you have an export option:
When this is complete in the tab with the WhatsApp web on the screen as below:
You then need to click the Extension, and this time you will notice you have an export option:
When you click "Start Exporting" it will give you the total number of contacts, however the "free" version is limited to 10 contacts for CSV/Excel/JSON and you cannot use VCard files in the "free" version:
The "Pro" version is $9.99 monthly which you can then cancel after the first month unless you need to use this regularly in which case the yearly option is better.
I have chosen the VCF export option here, as you can see from the image below:
We now need to visit icloud.com on this link > https://www.icloud.com then from here we need to login, once logged you will need the find the contacts (green box) as below:
When the contacts load you will to click on the import icon (the +) then choose Import Contact as below:
Then point this as your VCF file you downloaded and after a short wait you will see the intended import results as below:
We then need to choose the "Create New List" as below:
Then you can give that group a name, in this example I used "WhatsApp Import" as below:
This will then sync those contacts to my iPhone on the next iCloud sync cycle as then you will have your contacts resolved to names in WhatsApp rather than numbers only.
When the contacts load you will to click on the import icon (the +) then choose Import Contact as below:
Then point this as your VCF file you downloaded and after a short wait you will see the intended import results as below:
We then need to choose the "Create New List" as below:
Then you can give that group a name, in this example I used "WhatsApp Import" as below:
This will then sync those contacts to my iPhone on the next iCloud sync cycle as then you will have your contacts resolved to names in WhatsApp rather than numbers only.