How to recover deleted messages from whatsapp chat
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.
WhatsApp: How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages – Are they gone forever?
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While difficult to do accidentally, WhatsApp users may occasionally delete a conversation. Although there are ways to recover messages from the Facebook-owned app, people may encounter some trouble depending on whether they archived or fully erased their messages. Express.co.uk has compiled a guide on how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages for both iPhone and Android users.
Understanding WhatsApp chat backups:In order to retrieve deleted WhatsApp messages, you need to enable Chat Backup in Settings.
WhatsApp offers several backup frequencies in Under Auto Backup: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Off.
Remember, WhatsApp will only retain the most recent backup file in iOS and the two latest backup files in Android.
These daily auto backups make it easy to recover messages soon after deletion.
Weekly auto backups allow you to go further back in time to recover deleted WhatsApp messages from less than seven days ago at the expense of losing recent chat messages.
Simply select the WhatsApp auto backup frequency that best suits your needs.
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WhatsApp: It is easy to recover deleted WhatsApp messages (Image: Getty)
WhatsApp: Message recovery is easy on both Android and iOS (Image: Getty)
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If your WhatsApp chats were archived, iOS users can reverse the archival by giving your iPhone a shake and choose Undo to recover the archived chat.
Even if the chat was archived a while ago, you can still recover them.
In iOS: Scroll up in the chat list until Archived Chats appears.
Tap on it, then swipe left on the chat to restore. Tap Unarchive.
In Android: Tap on Archived chats at the bottom of the chat list.
Tap and hold on the chat you would like to recover, than select the Unarchive icon.
WhatsApp: The chat app offers several backup frequencies under WhatsApp Auto Backup (Image: Getty)
How to retrieve deleted WhatsApp messages:Simply uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp. When you reinstall the app, you will be prompted to restore your message history from the backup file.
Select Restore and everything from the latest backup will be restored.
This method of recovering deleted WhatsApp messages works on both Android and iOS but it has to be within your selected auto backup frequency.
Therefore if your auto backup frequency is set to daily, then you can easily recover any deleted chats before the next backup occurs.
WhatsApp: Archived chats can be recovered very easily within WhatsApp (Image: Getty)
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Getting deleted messages back after a backup has run is slightly more difficult.
It will depend on your selected auto backup frequency and will only work on Android devices.
Open File Explorer on your device and navigate to WhatsApp and Databases.
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Rename msgstore.db.crytp12 to msgstore-latest.db.crytp12
Rename msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 to msgstore.db.crytp12
If Google Drive backups is enabled, open Google Drive, tap on Backups, delete the WhatsApp backup file
Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp, then when prompted, restore from the backup file.
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How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages
Contents
- How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages
- Recover deleted WhatsApp messages on Android
- Recover deleted WhatsApp messages on iPhone
- How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup
- Android devices
Over the past few years, WhatsApp has established itself as a social media platform that helps people connect with friends and family. One of the features that have attracted users to the platform is the ability to send or receive unlimited messages that are not automatically deleted, as is the case with some other social media platforms.
However, WhatsApp allows you to delete messages that you don't want to keep. This option means that there is a possibility of accidentally deleting something. You can also accidentally lose your messages, for example when you switch to a new device or even when you reboot your device.
But does this mean that you will 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 an avid WhatsApp user, there is a good chance that you have had the bad experience of losing some of your messages. It could be a funny message from a friend, contact information shared with you by a colleague, or even correspondence that you can 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, recovery methods usually depend on the type of device you are using.
For example, what works on Android devices may not work on iPhones.
First, let's go deeper and see how to recover your old WhatsApp messages on Android device.
Retrieve Deleted WhatsApp Messages on Android
Android devices are often praised for their affordability, large display, open source software (which makes them highly customizable), and incredible selection of apps in the Google Play store. No wonder most Android devices today are fully compatible with WhatsApp.
But as with other devices, you can lose your WhatsApp data in seconds. Loss of your data can happen if you accidentally hit the Delete button or switch to a new device.
Fortunately, WhatsApp has a cloud-based backup solution that can save the day if you lose your messages and want to restore them. But how exactly does it work?
Once you have turned on backup in your WhatsApp account settings, the application starts saving copies of all your messages on the WhatsApp servers at regular intervals.
At the beginning of each cycle, the application checks for duplicates of each message on its server. If it is not, a copy is created immediately. The app also automatically saves any new photos or videos.
So your backup should be the first place you look when you accidentally delete a message.
To see if your messages are being backed up, go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup. Then make sure the email address provided is on one that you have access to.
Here is how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages on Android device if you have backed up your data:
- Delete WhatsApp from your device.
- Download a new copy of WhatsApp from Google Play and install it on your device.
- Once installed, open the app and enter your details, including your name and phone number.
- During installation, you will be asked if you want to "Restore" your chats from your Google Drive. Click "Restore" to start the recovery process.
- After successful data recovery, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
After completing these steps, all of your old messages and media should now be available in your chats.
Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages on iPhone
Like Android, WhatsApp for iPhone supports regular cloud backup. As long as backup is enabled, WhatsApp will keep a copy of all your messages in iCloud Drive. You can even see when the last backup was taken by opening your account settings section.
Recovering deleted messages from iCloud is very easy:
- Delete WhatsApp from your device.
- Visit the App Store and download a fresh copy of WhatsApp.
- After successfully downloading the application, install it on your device.
- Follow the instructions on the screen to recover all deleted messages.
And at the same time, all your deleted messages will be displayed in your chat.
However, before starting the restore process, it is important to make sure that you have enough local storage space.
As a general rule, the available local storage should be twice the size of your backup. For example, if your backup is 1 GB, you must have at least 2 GB of free space on your device.
How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without a backup
While restoring data from a WhatsApp backup is quick and convenient, you may have forgotten to enable it when you set 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.
Let's see how it works when you use WhatsApp on Android.
On Android devices
In addition to cloud backup, all Android devices come with Android Local Backup, an automatic backup system that stores up to 25MB of data per app.
Android Local Backup is the default data backup service for many Android devices. It is usually included in almost every new phone that ships with Google mobile services (a set of Google apps that help support functionality across devices).
Even if you have not enabled cloud backup on your WhatsApp account, you can still restore the data stored in your device's local backup. Here's how to do it:
- Open your device's file manager and click "WhatsApp".
- Click on the "Database" folder.
- Locate the file named "msgstore.db.crypt12". and change its name to "msgstore_BACKUP.db.crypt12".
- Then find the file named "msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12" and rename it to "msgstore.db.crypt12".
- At this point, uninstall WhatsApp from your device and then download a new copy from the Google Play store and install it on your device.
- Since you don't have any cloud backups, you will be prompted to restore chats from a local phone backup. Click "Restore" to start the recovery process.
That's it. You should now be able to view most of the deleted messages in your chats.
The disadvantage of this method is that you can only restore the most recent messages.
This is because the amount of spare space available for each application is severely limited.
Does WhatsApp save messages?
I reinstalled the application, but none of my messages appeared. What is happening?
WhatsApp is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, but there may be times when you accidentally delete messages. If this happens, don't panic. There are several ways to recover deleted messages and view or share them as you wish.
android, iphone from whatsapp backup on android, is it possible to restore whatsapp correspondence, backup
If you accidentally deleted WhatsApp chat history, messages and attachments on Android phones like Samsung galaxy, LG, HTC, Lenovo, Motorola, you can restore them. In this article, we will show you different ways to recover deleted WhatsApp data. We will explain how to get back your deleted WhatsApp messages or chat history along with the app, we will also recommend a more powerful Android data recovery that is easy to use and free to download.
- Method #1: How to restore WhatsApp chat history from recent backups?
- Method #2: How to restore WhatsApp chat history from old (not the latest) backups?
- Method #3: How to recover recent WhatsApp chat messages without losing new chat history?
- Method #4: How to recover deleted WhatsApp chat history without backups?
#1. Restoring WhatsApp Chat History from Latest Backups
If you have backups of your WhatsApp chat history, you can restore them from the backup. If you have deleted any history or messages without backup, you can recover lost WhatsApp messages, attachments from automatic backups. Because WhatsApp automatically creates backups every day at 4am (your local time) and saves them to your phone's internal storage (assuming there is enough free space) or to your Android phone's external microSD card. What you need in order to recover whatsapp messages is uninstall whatsapp then reinstall the chat app again.
During the installation process, you will be prompted to restore your message history. Just press
Restore and all messages from the last 7 days will be restored.
#2. Restoring WhatsApp chat history from old (not recent) backups
You can follow the instructions below to restore WhatsApp messages or chats from a backup:
- Delete WhatsApp.
- Open the WhatsApp database or backup folder. Decide which backup file you want to restore.
- Rename this file from "msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt7" to "msgstore.db.crypt7".
- Install WhatsApp.
- When prompted to restore, tap Restore.
You can find the WhatsApp backup files in the /sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases folder and you will see that they are saved with the name "msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt7". Please note that the WhatsApp backup folder may be in your phone storage or external storage.
What are the disadvantages of restoring chats from WhatsApp backups?
- Automatic backup files of WhatsApp chat history and messages are only valid for 7 days after the last backup.
Make sure you import your chat history before it expires! It will not be possible to find or restore data from backups older than 7 days. - You will lose new WhatsApp messages . Current chat stories that have not yet been backed up will be lost after restoration. That is, you will lose all messages that you have sent or received since the backup was created.
- Chat messages cannot be recovered if your SD card and/or chat history is corrupted.
- Chat history cannot be restored if you have a different phone number where you backed up your chats.
- When performing a manual backup, the last automatic file backup will be overwritten.
#3. How to recover recent WhatsApp chat messages without losing new chat history?
We know that new messages sent/received after a backup and deleted before the next backup cannot be restored. If you want to keep a copy of new WhatsApp messages, you can create a copy manually via WhatsApp > Menu Button > Options > Chat Options > Backup Conversations .
Typically, a manually created backup file is saved as "msgstore.db.crypt7" in the /sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases folder. Rename this chat backup file to something like "msgstore.db.crypt7.newest" or "msgstore.db.crypt7.current". However, there is no easy way to merge your new, old and restored messages.
#4. How to recover deleted whatsapp chat history without backups?
If you just delete some very important messages without a backup, how can you get them backed up? We recommend this android data recovery, which is easy to use and you can download it for free. You can recover whatsapp messages without backup with this android data restorer as follows.
- When you mistakenly delete your WhatsApp chat history, your messages will actually be stored on your phone's internal memory or SD card until they are completely erased from your mobile when you save new files or data on your phone. So don't use your phone currently to prevent overwriting data with new files instead of deleted ones.
- Install data recovery software for Android mobile phones on your Windows PC.
- Use data recovery to check your Android phone. It supports up to 2000 Android devices, including Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola, Lenovo, Nexus, ZTE, Huawei, Xiaomi, Blu or other Android phones and tablets.
- Get back your lost whatsapp messages and export them from your mobile to computer.
Now download the Android mobile phone data recovery software below and follow the steps below to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backups on Samsung or other Android phones. Note : This is a desktop program for Windows and Mac and you will not be able to download it to your phone or other computers. This file contains both the trial version and the full version of the program. You can order a license key online to receive it by email and then unlock the full version by entering the already purchased key.
Step 1. Enable the USB debugging option on your android.
Here's a step-by-step guide to show you how to enable USB debugging on Android phones, or if you're a Samsung Galaxy phone user, let's see how to enable USB debugging on Samsung Galaxy phones.
Step 2: Connect your phone to your computer via USB
Run the Android Data Recovery on your computer. Use your USB cable to connect your mobile phone and computer. The data recovery program can automatically detect your mobile phone and establish a connection between the data recovery application and your phone.
Step 3: Analyze your mobile and scan it for deleted WhatsApp messages on Android
Android Data Recovery will now analyze your phone. It will check your Android version, driver support, etc. Before allowing the Android data recovery program to scan your phone, you can select the file you would like to recover. But this is not necessary, you can leave the default settings, then the data recovery assistant will scan all the files and data on the phone.
It is recommended to select files of a specific type that needs to be recovered, in this case WhatsApp messages and documents, as this can narrow down the search and save you a lot of time. See screenshot below. You can also use this program to recover lost photos, videos, contacts, text messages, call history, music, etc.
- Step by step recovery of deleted photos and videos from Samsung galaxy mobile phone
- Step by Step Recovery of Deleted Text Messages from Samsung Mobile Phone
- Mobile data recovery after factory reset
Step 4. How to recover deleted WhatsApp chat history without backups?
Now click the Next button in the lower right corner of the screen at the top to allow the Android data recovery tool to scan your Samsung smartphone or other Android device. This tool can find lost files and data in internal storage or external storage. The results page will be grouped into different categories and you can open any of them to view and find data, and restore any item or data to your computer and mobile phone.
