Over the past few years, WhatsApp has established itself as the go-to social media platform, allowing people to stay in touch with friends and family. One of the features that has appealed to users is the unlimited sending or receiving of messages that does not auto-delete like other social media platforms.
How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages
WhatsApp allows you to delete messages that you don’t want to keep. This option means that there is a possibility of deleting something accidentally. You can also inadvertently lose your messages, such as by switching to a new device or even resetting your device.
But does that mean you lose these messages forever? The answer is no. If you accidentally deleted messages from your WhatsApp account, you still have a chance to recover them.
How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages
If you are a heavy WhatsApp user, chances are you have already had the unfortunate experience of losing some of your messages. It could be a funny text from a friend, contact information shared with you by a colleague, or even an exchange that you could present as evidence in court.
Although WhatsApp does not provide a direct built-in tool to help you recover deleted messages, you can still recover them in several ways. However, the recovery methods usually depend on the type of device you are using. For example, what works for Android devices may not work for iPhones.
First, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty and see how to recover your old WhatsApp messages on Android device.
Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages on Android
Android devices are often praised for their affordability, large screen, open-source programs (which make them highly customizable), and incredible selection of apps in the Google Play Store. It’s no wonder that most Android devices today are fully compatible with WhatsApp.
But like other devices, you can lose your WhatsApp data in seconds. Loss of your data can happen if you accidentally press the “delete” button or if you switch to a new device.
Fortunately, WhatsApp is equipped with a cloud-based backup solution that can save you the day if you lose your messages and want to recover them. But how does it work exactly?
Once you have enabled backup in the settings section of your WhatsApp account, the app will start storing copies of all your messages in WhatsApp’s servers at regular intervals. When a backup process begins, the application checks for duplicate messages on its server. If it does not find one, a copy is created immediately. The app also automatically saves any new photo or video.
Therefore, your backup should be the first place you look when you accidentally delete a message.
Note: to know if your messages are saved, go to Settings>Chats>Backup conversations. Next, verify that the email listed is an email you can access.
Here is how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages on Android device when you have backed up your data:
- Delete “WhatsApp” from your device.
- Download and install a fresh copy of WhatsApp from Google Play.
- After installation, open “WhatsApp” and enter your details, including your name and number.
- During the installation, a prompt will appear on your screen asking if you want to “Restore” your chats from your Google Drive. Press “Restore” to start the recovery process.
- After recovering your data, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
All your old messages and media should now be available in your chats.
Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages on iPhone
Like Android, WhatsApp app for iPhone supports backing up to iCloud at regular intervals. As long as backup is turned on, WhatsApp stores copies of all your messages in iCloud Drive. You can even see when the last backup was made by opening your account settings section.
Recovering deleted messages from iCloud is simple:
- Uninstall “WhatsApp” from your device by choosing “Delete Application”.
- Visit the App Store and download a fresh copy of “WhatsApp”.
- After downloading the app successfully, install it on your device.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to recover all deleted messages.
Now WhatsApp shows all your deleted messages in your chat.
It is crucial to ensure that there is enough space in your local storage before starting the recovery process. As a general rule, the available local storage space should be twice the size of your backup. For example, if your backup is 1 GB, there must be at least 2 GB of free storage space on your device.
How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup?
Although recovering data from your WhatsApp backup is fast and convenient, you may have forgotten to enable it when setting up your account.
The good news is that you can still recover lost messages and media through your device’s local backup or third-party software.
Recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup on Android devices
Besides cloud backup, all Android devices come with Android Local Backup, the default data backup service for many Android devices. The app is usually included in almost all new Android smartphones with Google Mobile Services (a collection of Google apps that help support functionality across devices).
If you have not enabled cloud backup on your WhatsApp account, you can still recover data stored in your device’s local backup. Here’s how to do it:
- Open your device’s “file manager” and tap on “WhatsApp”.
- Select the “Database” folder.
- Look for a file named “msgstore.db.crypt14” and change its name to “msgstore_BACKUP.db.crypt14” without quotes.
- Next, find the file named “msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt14” and rename it to “msgstore.db.crypt14” without quotes.
- At this point, delete “WhatsApp” from your device, then download a fresh copy from the Google Play store and install it.
- Since you don’t have any files backed up in the cloud, you are prompted to restore your chats from the phone’s local backup. Press “Restore” to start the recovery process.
You can now view most deleted messages in your chats.
The disadvantage of this local backup method is that you can only recover the most recent messages. This is because the backup space available for each application is limited.
Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages without Backup on iPhone
If you are using WhatsApp on iOS and cloud backup is not enabled, you can only recover deleted messages via third-party tool.
Although there are several options to choose from, MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS stands out because it does not require uninstalling WhatsApp.
Here is how to use it:
- Download and install “MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS” on your PC.
- Connect your phone to your PC via an appropriate USB cable.
- Launch “MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS” on your PC.
- Click “Scan” to start a thorough search of all social media and communication apps installed on your iPhone.
- At this point, select “WhatsApp” from the menu displayed on the left side of your screen. All messages, including deleted ones, should appear.
- Select the messages you want to recover, then click on the “Recover” button in the lower right corner.
WhatsApp message recovery FAQ
Does WhatsApp store your messages?
When you delete a message on WhatsApp, it disappears. However, he is not lost forever. Your messages are stored in the cloud (Google Drive or iCloud). They are also stored on your device. For these reasons, you can recover your deleted WhatsApp messages even if you need a third-party service.
I reinstalled the app, but none of my messages appeared. What is going on ?
When you follow the instructions above to uninstall the application and reinstall it, you must log in to the correct account. Using a different email address, phone, or phone number is the likely culprit for your missing messages.
As shown above, open WhatsApp settings and tap Chats. Then tap Chat Backup. You can check the last time WhatsApp backed up your chats and the email address associated with that backup.
Conclusion
WhatsApp is a great way to communicate with your friends and family. However, there may be times when you accidentally delete messages or lose them while switching devices. If this happens to you, don’t panic. You now have several ways to recover deleted messages and view or share them as you wish, whether or not backups are enabled in WhatsApp. Try the options above!
