How to get back old deleted whatsapp messages
How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages
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Over the past few years, WhatsApp has established itself as the go-to social media platform, helping people connect with friends and family. One feature that endeared users is being able to send or receive an unlimited number of messages that don’t autodelete, as happens with some other social media platforms.
However, WhatsApp allows you to delete the messages you don’t want to keep. This option means there’s a possibility of deleting something accidentally. You might also lose your messages inadvertently, for example, when switching to a new device or even while resetting your device.
But does that mean you lose those messages forever? The answer is no. If you have accidentally deleted messages from your WhatsApp account, there is still a chance to recover them.
How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages
If you’re an avid WhatsApp user, there’s a good chance you’ve 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 you could present as evidence in court.
Although WhatsApp doesn’t provide a direct built-in tool to help you retrieve deleted messages, you can still recover them in several ways. However, recovery methods generally depend on the type of device you’re using. For example, what works for Android devices may not work for iPhones.
First, let’s dive in and see how to recover your old WhatsApp messages on an Android device.
Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages using Android
Android devices often get praised for their affordability, large display, open-source programs (which makes them highly customizable), and an incredible app selection in the Google Play Store. It’s no wonder that most Android devices today are fully compatible with WhatsApp.
But as with other devices, you can lose your WhatsApp data in a matter of seconds. Losing your data can happen if you accidentally hit the “delete” button or switch to a new device.
Luckily, WhatsApp comes equipped with a cloud-based backup solution that can save the day if you lose your messages and want to retrieve them. But how exactly does it work?
Once you’ve enabled backup in the settings section of your WhatsApp account, the app starts to store copies of all your messages in WhatsApp’s servers at regular intervals. When a backup process begins, the app checks for message duplicates on its server. If it doesn’t find one, a copy gets created immediately. The app also saves any new photos or videos automatically.
Therefore, your backup should be the first place you look when you delete a message accidentally.
Note: To see if your messages are backing up, go to Settings>Chats>Chat Backup. Then, verify that the email listed is one that you can access.
Here’s how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages on an Android device when you’ve backed up your data:
- Delete WhatsApp from your device.
- Download and install a new copy of WhatsApp from Google Play.
- After installation, open WhatsApp and enter your details, including your name and number.
- During installation, a prompt will appear on your screen asking whether you’d like to
Restore your chats from your Google Drive. Tap on Restore to initiate 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 an iPhone
Like Android, the WhatsApp application for iPhones supports backup to the cloud at regular intervals. So long as your backup is enabled, WhatsApp will store copies of all your messages in the iCloud Drive. You can even see when the last backup was performed by opening the settings section of your account.
Recovering deleted messages from iCloud is straightforward:
- Uninstall WhatsApp from your device by choosing Delete App.
- Visit the App Store and download a new copy of WhatsApp.
- After downloading the app successfully, install it on your device.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to recover all the deleted messages.
Now, WhatsApp displays all your deleted messages in your chat.
It’s crucial to ensure enough space in your local storage before the recovery process starts. As a rule of thumb, the available local storage should be twice as much as the size of your backup. For example, if your backup is 1 GB, there should be at least 2 GB of free storage space on your device.
How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages without a Backup
Although data recovery 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 thanks to your device’s local backup or third-party software.
Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages without a Backup on Android Devices
Apart from cloud-based backup, all Android devices come with Android Local Backup—the default data backup service for many Android devices.
The application typically gets included in nearly every new Android smartphone with Google Mobile Services (a collection of Google apps that help support functionality across devices).
If you haven’t enabled cloud backup on your WhatsApp account, you can still recover the data stored in your device’s local backup. Here’s how to go about it:
- Open your device’s File Manager and tap on WhatsApp.
- Select the Database folder.
- Look for a file named msgstore.db.crypt12 and change its name to msgstore_BACKUP.db.crypt12 without quotes.
- After that, look for the file named msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 and rename it to msgstore.db.crypt12 without quotes.
- Now, delete WhatsApp from your device, download a new copy from the Google Play store, and install it.
- Since you don’t have any files backed up in the cloud, you get prompted to restore your chats from the local phone backup.
Tap on Restore to initiate the recovery process.
Now, you can view most deleted messages in your chats.
The downside to this local backup method is that you can only recover the most recent messages. That’s because the amount of backup space available for each app is limited.
Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages without a Backup on iPhone
If you run WhatsApp on iOS and cloud backup isn’t enabled, you can only recover deleted messages via a third-party tool.
Although there are several options to choose from, MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS stands out because it doesn’t require you to uninstall WhatsApp.
Here’s how to use it:
- Download and install MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS on your PC.
- Connect your phone to your PC via a suitable USB cable.
- Launch MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS on your PC.
- Click on Scan to initiate a thorough search through all the 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 the ones that got deleted, should appear.
- Select the messages you’d like to recover and then hit the Recover button in the lower right corner.
In closing, WhatsApp is a great way to communicate with your friends and family. Regardless, there can be moments when you accidentally delete messages or lose them while switching devices. If this happens to you, don’t panic. You now have multiple ways to recover the deleted messages and view or share them as you like, whether you had backups enabled in WhatsApp or not. Give the above options a try!
WhatsApp Message Recovery FAQs
Does WhatsApp keep your messages?
When you delete a message on WhatsApp, it disappears. However, it isn’t gone forever. Your messages get stored in the cloud (Google Drive or iCloud). They also get 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’s happening?
When you follow the instructions above to uninstall the app and reinstall it, you must log in to the correct account. Using a different email, phone, or phone number is the likely culprit of your missing messages.
As shown above, open the WhatsApp Settings and tap on Chats. Then tap on Chat Backup. You can verify the last time WhatsApp saved your chats and the email address associated with that backup.
How to Recover Deleted or Missing WhatsApp Messages
Do you need to recover deleted or missing WhatsApp messages? It's certainly possible, depending on the situation.
Below, you'll learn how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages on your iPhone or Android device. We'll then teach you how to set up an advanced WhatsApp backup plan to ensure you never lose any of your WhatsApp messages again.
Understanding WhatsApp Chat Backups
In order to retrieve deleted WhatsApp messages, you must have enabled Chat Backup in the app's settings. To reach this, tap the Settings tab. It's on the bottom bar of the iPhone app; on Android, open the three-dot menu at the top-right and choose Settings.
From there, head to Chats > Chat backup. Here (under Auto Backup on iOS and Back up to Google Drive on Android), the app offers several backup frequencies (along with the option to encrypt your WhatsApp backups):
- Daily
- Weekly
- Monthly
- Off
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On Android, WhatsApp makes a local backup every night, but this won't help you if you lose your phone. This is why cloud backups are vital.
WhatsApp deletes older backup files as you create new ones.
The iPhone app only keeps the latest backup file, while the Android version keeps "up to the last seven days' worth" of backup files. Keep that in mind as you choose the right backup frequency for your needs.
By having daily auto-backups, you'll be able to easily recover WhatsApp messages soon after deleting them. On the other hand, weekly auto-backups will allow you to go further back in time to recover deleted WhatsApp messages, at the expense of losing recent chat messages.
For a more advanced backup plan for Android devices, scroll down to the "An Advanced WhatsApp Backup Strategy for Android" section below.
How to Recover Archived Chats in WhatsApp
Before we look at recovering deleted WhatsApp messages, there's a chance that you might have just archived a missing chat, not deleted it. But what's the difference?
Archiving removes the chat from your list, allowing you to hide conversations that you're done with for now. You can unarchive a chat at any time to access it again, and archiving doesn't delete anything in the chat.
Conversely, deleting a chat erases its contents, so they're no longer accessible to you.
On iPhone, when you archive a chat, you can immediately reverse the archival by shaking your device and choosing Undo to recover the archived chat. But even if you miss this, it's easy to retrieve archived WhatsApp chats later.
To unarchive a WhatsApp chat on iPhone:
- Scroll up in the chat list (swipe from top to bottom) until Archived Chats appears.
- Tap on it, then swipe from right to left on the chat you want to restore.
- Hit the Unarchive button that appears.
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To unarchive a chat on Android:
- Scroll to the bottom of the chat list and tap Archived chats (X).
- Press and hold on the chat you want to recover.
- Tap the unarchive icon at the top-right, which looks like a box with an upward-facing arrow.
How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages
Wondering how to get back deleted WhatsApp messages after backing them up? You can restore your WhatsApp backup by simply uninstalling and reinstalling WhatsApp on your device.
When you reinstall the app, you will be prompted to restore your message history from the backup file. Tap Restore and you'll retrieve everything from the latest backup. Make sure to do it when prompted, as you can't restore the backup file later.
This method of recovering deleted WhatsApp messages works on both Android and iPhone, as long as you have a backup. Keep in mind that you can only recover backed-up messages within your selected auto-backup frequency, however.
For instance, if you've set the app to back up daily, you can recover any deleted chats before the next daily backup occurs. But if the app has made a new backup since you deleted certain messages, they're lost for good.
How to Recover Deleted Media on WhatsApp
Hopefully, restoring your backup file allowed you to retrieve any deleted media from your chats.
If that didn't work, however, read our guide to recovering deleted photos from WhatsApp.
On Android, you can simply open a file explorer app and navigate to /WhatsApp/Media. From there, simply sift through the folders until you find the deleted photos you want to recover.
On iPhone, you should have a backup copy of images saved to your device if you have the Save to Camera Roll option enabled at Settings > Chats in WhatsApp.
Check the above guide for additional methods of media recovery.
How to Recover Older Deleted Chats in WhatsApp
Getting deleted messages back after a new WhatsApp backup has run is slightly more difficult. Your success will depend on your selected auto-backup frequency.
Note that the below strategy only works on Android devices, since the OS lets you access local backup files. If you're using an iPhone, your only other method is to restore an iPhone backup that you made before deleting the WhatsApp chats.
There are third-party apps that claim to help you recover WhatsApp chats, but they aren't cheap and offer no guarantees. Whether you use these is up to how much you value the missing messages.
Before we dive into the process, here's an overview of restoring older WhatsApp chats on Android:
- Open a file explorer app on your Android device.
- Navigate to /WhatsApp/Databases.
- Rename msgstore.db.crypt12 to msgstore-latest.db.crypt12.
- Rename msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 to msgstore.db.crypt12.
- Uninstall WhatsApp.
- If Google Drive backups are enabled, open Google Drive, slide out the left menu, tap Backups, and delete the WhatsApp backup file.
- Reinstall WhatsApp.
- When prompted, restore from the backup file.
How to Restore Older Deleted WhatsApp Chats on Android
As mentioned before, WhatsApp on Android retains several days of chat backup files.
One is, of course, the latest chat backup. The others, depending on your auto-backup frequency, could be one day or many days old. In addition to the Google Drive cloud backup, WhatsApp stores these backups on your device's local storage.
Open your device's file explorer app (Files by Google is a good option if you don't have one installed), and navigate to /WhatsApp/Databases. Depending on your device, the WhatsApp folder may appear under /sdcard/, /storage/, Internal Memory, or similar.
Within that WhatsApp folder, you'll find the various chat backup files. The latest one is named msgstore.db.crypt12, while the others look like msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12. As you'd expect, YYYY-MM-DD represents the year, month, and date (respectively) that the backup file was created.
To retrieve WhatsApp messages deleted sometime between two backups, simply do the following:
- Rename msgstore.
db.crypt12 to msgstore-latest.db.crypt12. This changes the latest backup file, since you're about to give an older backup its name in order to restore it. - Next, rename the msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 file that you want to restore to msgstore.db.crypt12.
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After this, uninstall WhatsApp. If you've enabled Google Drive cloud backups, open the Google Drive app, slide out the left menu, and select Backups. You'll see a WhatsApp backup file with your phone number in it. Tap the three-dot Menu to the right of this and choose Delete backup to erase it.
Doing this prevents WhatsApp from using the backup file in Google Drive instead of the local file you want to restore.
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Now, reinstall WhatsApp from the Play Store. During the setup process, you'll be prompted to restore from the backup file you've just tweaked—it will show as X days old instead of the most recent backup file.
Confirm restoration from this file.
That's all you have to do in order to retrieve deleted WhatsApp messages from older backups. Once you've restored those messages, feel free to start using WhatsApp as normal again.
How to Export Retrieved WhatsApp Messages and Return to the Latest Backup
When you walk through the above, you'll lose any messages created since the backup you restored. If you only performed that process to restore a few deleted messages, and don't want to lose recent messages, you can export the retrieved chat messages and then restore WhatsApp to the latest backup. You'll have to run through the entire process again, but it's not difficult.
To export messages, open the chat containing the messages you want to save. Tap the three-dot Menu button at the top-right, followed by More > Export chat. If the chat has media, you'll see an option to export Without media or to Include media.
Including media will add all recent images as attachments, which obviously increases the size of the export file. You can export up to 10,000 messages with media, or 40,000 messages without media.
After you make your choice, choose an app on your phone to share the text file (and attachments, if applicable) containing your messages. You can email this to yourself, add it to cloud storage, or similar. Repeat this for any other chats with messages you want to save.
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Once you're done exporting, follow the steps in the above section again to access your WhatsApp backups. When you come to renaming the backup files, reverse the process:
- Rename the existing msgstore.db.crypt12 (which contains the messages you retrieved) to msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12, using today's date. In case there's already a file with today's date, use DD.2 instead.
- Next, rename msgstore-latest.
db.crypt12 (the latest backup created when you started) back to msgstore.db.crypt12.
Uninstall WhatsApp, delete your Google Drive backup again if needed, and reinstall the app. After you restore from backup, your latest chats will reappear. The messages you exported won't appear inside WhatsApp, but you can at least see them in the text file whenever you need them.
An Advanced WhatsApp Backup Strategy for Android
Because you can easily view and edit WhatsApp chat backup files on Android, it's easy to manipulate them. Renaming them allows you to keep as many backup files as you want.
All you need to do is rename a backup in the msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 format to something else, such as oct11.db.crypt12 or 2021-June-Backup. Because this file doesn't use WhatsApp's naming convention, it's now protected from WhatsApp overwriting it.
Consider creating your own backup file in this way once every month or so.
That way, you won't lose tons of messages if you have to restore from an older backup. For even more safety, you should copy these backup files to cloud storage or your computer so that they're safe in case your phone stops working or you lose it.
Recover WhatsApp Messages to Preserve Memories
As you can see, it's fairly easy to recover deleted WhatsApp messages. However, this is only the case if you've backed up your messages ahead of time. This is why the advanced backup strategy is worth setting up if you're an Android user. iPhone owners don't have as many options.
Now that you know you won't lose any WhatsApp messages in the future, it's a good idea to discover some of WhatsApp's other cool features that aren't immediately visible.
How to restore messages in WhatsApp? 6 Ways for Android and iOS
Whether you have an iPhone or any Android devices, the first app you will probably install is WhatsApp to stay in touch with your friends and family.
There are many things to know about WhatsApp, and among them, the most important one is how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages. Sometimes you accidentally delete an app or messages and need to somehow restore them since they weren't meant to be deleted.
Fortunately, you have several ways to recover your WhatsApp chat history. Each of these methods uses a unique workaround to recover your messages, and let's check out all the possible methods so you can find the best one.
- Method 1. Recover deleted WhatsApp messages on iPhone without backup
- Method 2. Retrieve deleted WhatsApp messages on iPhone from WhatsApp backup
- Method 3: Restore WhatsApp chat history on iPhone from iCloud 9 backup0008
- Method 4. How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup on Android
- Method 5. How to recover WhatsApp message on Android via Google Drive
- Method 6: How to recover a WhatsApp message on Android from a local file
Method 1.
Recover deleted WhatsApp messages on iPhone without backup You can usually only restore WhatsApp messages if you already have a backup of your messages somewhere. If you've never backed up your WhatsApp messages or your iPhone, you can't restore the backup because you simply don't have one.
However, there is software that allows you to restore WhatsApp messages without requiring a backup. It is called Tenorshare UltData and allows users to recover data including WhatsApp messages on your iOS devices.
In addition to helping you recover your messages, it can recover photos, videos, and more on your iPhone. Before restoring data, it even allows you to preview the data so you know what will be restored on your device. If you like it, here is how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup:
- Download Tenorshare UltData to your PC or Mac, then install it.
-
Connect iPhone to your computer and launch the software on your computer.
Click "Recover from iOS Device" at the top. -
The next screen will ask you to select the content you want to restore. Tick the WhatsApp and Attachments option and click the "Start Scan" button.
-
On the next screen, review your messages, select the ones you want to restore, and click the Restore button.
That's it. The WhatsApp messages you selected along with their attachments will be restored to your iPhone.
Method 2. Retrieve deleted WhatsApp messages on iPhone from WhatsApp backup
If the WhatsApp messages on your iPhone were backed up before you lost them, you can restore the backup on your device and recover all deleted messages. This is a fairly simple task and below is how to do it.
Since your WhatsApp backup is already available in iCloud, all you have to do is get the WhatsApp app which will prompt you to restore the backup. Delete the WhatsApp app from your iPhone and install it again from the App Store.
Then sign in using the same phone number you previously had and you will be prompted to restore the backup. Click "Restore Chat History" and you'll be good to go.
Here's how you can get deleted WhatsApp messages back on your iPhone.
Method 3: Restore WhatsApp Chat History on iPhone from iCloud Backup
iCloud backups also work the same as iTunes backups, except they're stored in Apple's iCloud storage. If you have an iCloud backup with your messages, you can restore it and get your lost WhatsApp messages back on your iPhone.
You can select an iCloud backup containing your WhatsApp messages and it will be restored on your iPhone.
Method 4. How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup on Android
How to restore WhatsApp without a backup? Tenorshare UltData for Android can recover deleted files from WhatsApp on Android phone without backup or root.
Not only recover deleted WhatsApp videos and photos, but also recover audios, documents, attachments, etc.
Here is how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup on Android phone:
- So, download and install UltData on your computer and run it.
-
Now connect your Android mobile phone via USB and click "Recover Whatsapp Data" on the main interface.
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You need to log into your WhatsApp account and then click "Start" on the program's interface to start scanning.
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After scanning is completed, all WhatsApp files will be displayed on the screen; removed or existed.
After a few minutes, you will receive a "Repair Success Message". So, this is the answer to your question, how to recover deleted Whatsapp messages on android. There are other methods available which we have detailed below, but using WhatsApp message recovery software for Android is the best and easiest way to perform recovery. Try it. Otherwise, you can check out other methods below.
Method 5: How to recover WhatsApp message on Android via Google Drive
If you have backed up WhatsApp files to Google Drive, Google Drive is one of the most popular cloud services for Android mobile devices, and many people use it to store numerous backup files.
However, you will only be able to use this procedure if you have made a backup beforehand. So, here is how to recover deleted files from WhatsApp on Android phone via Google drive:
Method 6: How to recover a WhatsApp message on Android from a local file
Even if you haven't backed up to Google Drive, the answer to the question is how to recover deleted WhatsApp photos on Samsung? It's pretty simple. There are locally saved backups for whatsapp available on your android mobile phone. You can use them to recover deleted files, but this method will only work for 7 days from the date of deletion.
There are locally stored WhatsApp backups available on your Android mobile phone. You can use them to recover deleted files, but this method will only work for 7 days from the date of deletion.
This is an easy way to restore WhatsApp backup files thanks to local backups made by the app itself. But remember that this will only work 7 days after you deleted the files.
Conclusion
Therefore, how to restore a message in WhatsApp? Well, it's easy. If you backed up using Google Drive, you won't have any problems restoring them. But without backup, you can use Tenorshare UltData or Tenorshare UltData for Android to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup.
How to recover WhatsApp conversations on iPhone using Tenorshare UltData or from backups
WhatsApp is one of the largest instant messengers. Through it, people around the world communicate both at work and on personal matters. But whatever the subject of conversation, the loss of correspondence is unpleasant. However, this still happens, so it is useful to know what are the ways to recover deleted messages in WhatsApp. Here's how to do it on iPhone.
Method 1: Restore deleted messages from WhatsApp iCloud 9 backup0105
WhatsApp conversation history is not stored on the servers of the service itself, but you can use the backup copy that the application places in the iCloud cloud to backup and restore the chat history.
But you need to understand that in this case it will not be possible to preview the correspondence and select the necessary elements.
Step 1: Enable automatic backup
First of all, you need to make sure that automatic backup is enabled. You can check that this is the case by going to WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Chat Backup.
Step 2: Restore your chat history
Now uninstall WhatsApp on your iPhone and reinstall it from the App Store, then verify your phone number. After a successful login, a welcome notification will appear asking you to restore your chat history. Just select the "Restore Chat History" option and the recovery process will begin. When it completes, the number of recovered messages will be displayed.
Method 2: Selectively recover deleted WhatsApp messages on iPhone even if there is no backup
Tenorshare UltData is a powerful data recovery tool not only for WhatsApp but also for many other types of data.
Whether it was lost due to accidental deletion or malware attack, Tenorshare UltData can perfectly recover lost data. In addition, you can recover deleted data both directly from iPhone and from iCloud and iTunes backups.
This tool is compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems and supports more than 20 types of data, including WhatsApp deleted data.
How to Retrieve Deleted WhatsApp Messages on iPhone with Tenorshare UltData:
Step 1. Launch the program
If you don't have UltData, please download and install it on your computer. Then connect your iPhone with a USB cable. Click "Recover from iOS Device" and let the program detect your iPhone. After a successful discovery, all types of data on your iPhone will be displayed on the screen.
Step 2: Scan
In the list of data types displayed on the screen, select "WhatsApp and attachments". At the bottom of the screen, click the "Start Scan" button.
Step 3: Restore
After the scanning process is successfully completed, the interface will display a list of deleted items. Tick the WhatsApp related options in the left panel (messages and/or attachments) and then view those deleted messages. Select what you want to restore and click the desired Restore button at the bottom of the screen.
Method 3: Restore deleted WhatsApp chat from iTunes backup
This method is suitable for those who regularly back up their iPhone to iTunes. The process of restoring WhatsApp messages from iTunes backups is quite simple, but only the last three backups are available for restoration.
Step 1. Open iTunes and connect your iPhone.
Step 2. Click on the iPhone icon and select the "Restore from Backup" option.
Step 3. Select the backup file containing the desired WhatsApp messages and click "Restore"
Method 4.
Restore deleted WhatsApp chat from iCloud backup for the entire iPhone Unlike the very first method, here we will talk about restore all iPhone data from iCloud copy. But at the same time, you will need to reset the smartphone and restore all data from the cloud.
The first step is to make sure that these backups are created. To do this, just go to Settings > iCloud > Backup. If iCloud backup is activated, you can recover deleted WhatsApp messages as follows.
Step 1. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.
Step 2. Follow the on-screen instructions until the Apps & Data option appears. Select the "Restore from iCloud Backup" option.
Step 3. Select the appropriate iCloud backup and wait for the restore process to complete successfully. It is important to note that an internet connection is critical throughout the entire process. Therefore, make sure that the Wi-Fi network is not disabled during the process.
