How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages

Over the past few years, WhatsApp has established itself as the go-to social media platform, helping people connect with friends and family. One of the features that have appealed to users of the platform is the ability to send or receive an unlimited number of messages that are not automatically deleted, as is the case with other platforms. social media.

However, WhatsApp lets you delete messages you don't want to keep. This means that there is a possibility of deleting something accidentally. You can also inadvertently lose your messages, such as when switching to a new device or even when resetting your device.

But does that mean you lose those messages forever? The answer is no. If you accidentally deleted messages from your WhatsApp account, it is still possible to recover them.

How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages

If you are an avid WhatsApp user, chances are you have 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, there are still several ways you can recover them. 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 see how to recover your old WhatsApp messages on Android device.

Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages Android

Android devices are often praised for their affordability, large screen, open source programs (which makes them highly customizable), and an 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 with other devices, you can lose your WhatsApp data in seconds. This can happen if you accidentally hit the “delete” button or if you switch to a new device.

Fortunately, WhatsApp is equipped with a cloud-based backup solution that can save your life if you lose your messages and want to recover them. But how does it work exactly?

Once you enable backup in the settings section of your WhatsApp account, the app starts storing copies of all your messages on WhatsApp's servers at regular intervals. At the start of each cycle, the application checks to see if it has a duplicate of each message on its server. If not, a duplicate is created immediately. The app also automatically saves any new photos or videos.

Therefore, your backup should be the first place you look when you accidentally delete a message.

Here is how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages on Android device when you have backed up your data:

1. Delete WhatsApp from your device.
   
2. Download a fresh copy of WhatsApp from Google Play and install it on your device.
   
3. After installation, open the app and enter your details, including your name and number.
   
4. During installation, a prompt will appear on your screen asking if you would like
   “Restore” your chats from your Google Drive. Press "Restore" to start the recovery process.
   
5. Once your data has been successfully recovered, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

After following 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 app for iPhone supports cloud backup at regular intervals. As long as your backup is enabled, WhatsApp will store 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:

1. Uninstall WhatsApp from your device.
   
2. Visit the App Store and download a fresh copy of WhatsApp.
   
3. After downloading the app successfully, install it on your device.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to recover all deleted messages.

And with this, all your deleted messages will be displayed in your chat.

However, it is important to ensure that you have enough space in your local storage before the recovery process begins. Generally, the available local storage should be twice 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 Backup

Although recovering data from your WhatsApp backup is quick 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.

Let's see how it is done when you run WhatsApp on Android.

Android devices

Besides cloud-based 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's usually included in almost all new handsets that come with Google Mobile Services (a collection of Google apps that help support functionality across devices).

Even if you haven't enabled cloud backup on your WhatsApp account, you can still recover data stored in your device's local backup. Here's how:

1. Open your device's file manager and tap "WhatsApp".
   
2. Tap on the "Database" folder.
   
3. Look for a file named "msgstore.db.crypt12". and change its name to "msgstore_BACKUP.db.crypt12".
   
4. After that, find the file named “msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12” and rename it to “msgstore.db.crypt12”.
   
5. At this point, delete WhatsApp from your device, then download a fresh copy from the Google Play Store and install it on your device.
   
6. Since you don't have any files backed up in the cloud, you will be prompted to restore your chats from the local phone backup. Press "Restore" to start the recovery process.
   

And that's all. You should now be able to view most deleted messages in your chats.

The disadvantage of this method is that you can only retrieve the most recent messages. This is because the amount of backup space available for each application is very limited.

iPhone

If you are running WhatsApp on iOS and cloud backup is not 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:

1. Download and install the software on a PC.
   
2. Connect your phone to your PC via a suitable USB cable.
3. Open the software you just installed on your PC.
   
4. Click "Scan". This will launch a deep search of all the social media and communication apps installed on your iPhone.
   
5. At this point, select "WhatsApp" from the menu displayed on the left side of your screen. This should show you all messages, including deleted ones.
   
6. Select the messages you want to recover, then tap the "Recover" button in the lower right corner.
   

Deleted WhatsApp data is not lost

WhatsApp is a great way to communicate with friends and family, but sometimes you can 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.

Have you tried recovering your WhatsApp messages via any of the approaches described in this article? How was it? Let us know in the comments section below.