Whatsapp data from mac to iPhone

Hi guys,

I dropped my old iPhone SE into the water a few days ago so it's not functioning anymore.

When I installed whatsapp on my new iPhone 8 it asked if I wanted to restore my chat record. for sure I clicked "restored" but it just failed every time. in the app it shows there is a 4.5gb of whatsapp data for me to restore, in icloud it says it's 135mb of data.

I tried all methods but still failed to restore the data so I asked Apple. they told me if I cannot see the backup file of whatsapp on icloud.com, I probably haven't properly backed up my data. so yes, I have no backup in icloud.com too.

i almost wanted to give up but when I looked at my mac, I saw: library/containers/desktop.whatsapp

it'a 312mb folder for the desktop whatsapp.

I also saw:

icloud/whatsapp/(mynumber)/backup

and there were 400mb there, although the backup was created in Jan 2021. (but it cannot be downloaded)

i wonder if any of this could help me to restore my data to my new iPhone. and if yes, what do i need to do? so desperate. but thank you.