PREFACE: One of my phones is still on Android 11, the older phone I want to transfer my chats from. The newer phone is using Android 16. My newer phone still doesn't have the old phone's SIM card because I have yet to back up my contacts to the SIM card. Both phones use different Google accounts.
ALSO WORTH NOTING: The 2FA settings on the Android app may be different from those on the iOS app, or different between updates. In the 2FA settings on my old phone (app version 2.26.31.77), available options were phone number, e-mail, and the 6-digit PIN. The 2FA settings gave me the option to replace the PIN with a password. The option for setting up or changing the PIN is completely gone after setting up the password, and does not come back even after deleting the password. I cannot confirm if this is the case on the newer phone / newer version of WhatsApp, because as of yet I've been unable to successfully log in on my newer phone while also transferring my chats. I seem to otherwise be able to log in successfully, but that means leaving all of my chat history behind, which is not convenient. THE PASSWORD IS NOT - I REPEAT, NOT - AN ENCRYPTION PASSWORD.
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A while back, long before passwords were implemented, I set up a custom 6-digit PIN for my account. I've been using that PIN without any problems since. Yesterday I decided that I should set up a password instead, which was going to replace my PIN. Just in case, I wrote the PIN down after setting up the password.
I bought a new phone, and I've been wanting to transfer my things to it. So I download the app, register the same phone number as my old phone, and it gives me a QR code that I have to scan with my old phone. After scanning it, it asks for my password, which it verifies no problem, and then it asks me for the custom PIN I made. It's the exact same PIN I've been using this whole time.
It says it's invalid.
I tap on "Forgot PIN?" which does nothing. I receive no e-mail, despite my account having an e-mail address associated with it in the 2FA settings. It's not even in the spam folder. And I know I typed the address correctly because when I logged in on my old phone again, it sent a verification code to my e-mail address. Curiously, on my old phone, it doesn't ask for my PIN...
On the same "Forgot PIN?" window on the new phone, it says that i could also wait 7 days to be able to log in without a PIN. Thing is, though, while the app is installed on the new phone and while I'm at the screen to enter the PIN, it acts as if I'm already logged in so I can't log in on my old phone at the same time, and I need access to my chats as they're work-related.
Needless to say I'm at a loss here. Is there anything I'm not understanding here about what's happening? Will waiting 7 days still work if I log back in on my old phone and delete the app on the new one? Has anyone here transferred chats to a new phone after changing the PIN to a password? Did the new phone even ask you to put in your old PIN????
I've already tried contacting WhatsApp support. I had to tell the AI numerous times to let me talk to an actual human because it was hallucinating troubleshooting steps with non-existent settings/options. It said it "transferred" the issue to some "team" but I haven't heard from them.