If instead of storing a WhatsApp chat, the key was used to delete it by mistake, it can be useful to know how to recover deleted messages on Whatsapp .
While in fact the archived chats can be easily recovered, recovering deleted messages is not so simple, even if possible if you are timely and if a backup of the chats has been scheduled that allows you to never lose any message. The article concerns the application of Whatsapp on both Android and iPhone smartphones, even if something more can be done for Android.
READ ALSO: Save Whatsapp chat on Google Drive or iCloud
As already explained in the guide on how to find the chats stored in Whatsapp, you can swipe the conversation to the left (on iPhone) or, on Android, touch it while holding down and then use the button at the top to remove it from the archived chats.
The chats stored on Android are found by scrolling down the list of conversations, until the last one.
To recover deleted and unarchived WhatsApp messages, you need to enable " Backup chat " in Settings> Chat .
Under " Automatic backup " or Backup on Google Drive, WhatsApp offers different backup frequencies: Daily, weekly, Monthly, Just when I touch Backup .
Thus, using the option of automatic daily backups, you can easily recover messages immediately after being deleted.
If you choose to make automatic weekly backups, you can save older chats, but you cannot recover the most recent WhatsApp messages, if they have been deleted for less than seven days since the last backup.
For example, if the automatic backup frequency is set to daily, you can easily restore chats deleted the day before, before the next backup is activated. To recover, just uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp.
When you reinstall the app, you will be prompted to restore the message history from the backup file and it will restore everything from the last backup. This method of recovering deleted WhatsApp messages works on both Android and iOS.
This is because WhatsApp on iPhone only keeps the last backup file, while in the Andorid version the two most recent backup files remain in memory. One will be the last chat backup, the other, depending on the automatic backup frequency, could be from the day before, the week before or the previous month. These are hidden in the device memory.
Using a file management application on Android, you need to open the SD Card folder -> WhatsApp -> Databases .
In this folder, you will find several files that have the name type msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt and one called msgstore.db.crypt12, which is the most recent backup.
The latter should be renamed to msgstore-latest.db.crytp12 .
The file with the most distant date ( msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 ) must be renamed to msgstore.db.crytp12 .
Obviously trying to open these files you will not get anything readable because they are encrypted. You must then uninstall Whatsapp, reinstall it and restore old conversations.
In this case, the backup file used will be the oldest one that has remained in memory and will therefore contain messages from at least two weeks before. With this method you will lose the newest messages, those of the days between today and the date of the file to which the name has been changed.
Therefore, after reading and recovering the messages that have been lost, it will be necessary to repeat the procedure to rename the files as follows:
- msgstore.db.crytp12 must go back to the first name msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12
- msgstore-latest.db.crytp12 returns to being msgstore.db.crytp12 instead
Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp, to restore from backup and the latest chats will reappear!
With this trick on Android it is also possible to save multiple backup files and not just the two provided by Whatsapp.
You can then rename the msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 file to something else, like ott11.db.crypt12 .
This file will therefore not be recognized and overwritten by WhatsApp and in the next backup, a new file msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 will be created.
You can then open the app to explore files in Android and go to the WhatsApp -> Media folder to search for the lost image or video to be restored.
NOTE: Another article explains how to find out the content of messages received, but deleted in Whatsapp
While in fact the archived chats can be easily recovered, recovering deleted messages is not so simple, even if possible if you are timely and if a backup of the chats has been scheduled that allows you to never lose any message. The article concerns the application of Whatsapp on both Android and iPhone smartphones, even if something more can be done for Android.
READ ALSO: Save Whatsapp chat on Google Drive or iCloud
Restoring archived WhatsApp messages
First of all, if the messages had been archived and not deleted, their recovery would be easy and immediate.As already explained in the guide on how to find the chats stored in Whatsapp, you can swipe the conversation to the left (on iPhone) or, on Android, touch it while holding down and then use the button at the top to remove it from the archived chats.
The chats stored on Android are found by scrolling down the list of conversations, until the last one.
To recover deleted and unarchived WhatsApp messages, you need to enable " Backup chat " in Settings> Chat .
Under " Automatic backup " or Backup on Google Drive, WhatsApp offers different backup frequencies: Daily, weekly, Monthly, Just when I touch Backup .
Thus, using the option of automatic daily backups, you can easily recover messages immediately after being deleted.
If you choose to make automatic weekly backups, you can save older chats, but you cannot recover the most recent WhatsApp messages, if they have been deleted for less than seven days since the last backup.
How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages
The recovery of deleted WhatsApp messages is very simple, but it depends on the selected automatic backup frequency.For example, if the automatic backup frequency is set to daily, you can easily restore chats deleted the day before, before the next backup is activated. To recover, just uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp.
When you reinstall the app, you will be prompted to restore the message history from the backup file and it will restore everything from the last backup. This method of recovering deleted WhatsApp messages works on both Android and iOS.
Recovery of older chats after backup
Recovering deleted messages after performing a backup is slightly more difficult and will depend on the selected automatic backup frequency. Furthermore, this can only be done on Android smartphones .This is because WhatsApp on iPhone only keeps the last backup file, while in the Andorid version the two most recent backup files remain in memory. One will be the last chat backup, the other, depending on the automatic backup frequency, could be from the day before, the week before or the previous month. These are hidden in the device memory.
Using a file management application on Android, you need to open the SD Card folder -> WhatsApp -> Databases .
In this folder, you will find several files that have the name type msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt and one called msgstore.db.crypt12, which is the most recent backup.
The latter should be renamed to msgstore-latest.db.crytp12 .
The file with the most distant date ( msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 ) must be renamed to msgstore.db.crytp12 .
Obviously trying to open these files you will not get anything readable because they are encrypted. You must then uninstall Whatsapp, reinstall it and restore old conversations.
In this case, the backup file used will be the oldest one that has remained in memory and will therefore contain messages from at least two weeks before. With this method you will lose the newest messages, those of the days between today and the date of the file to which the name has been changed.
Therefore, after reading and recovering the messages that have been lost, it will be necessary to repeat the procedure to rename the files as follows:
- msgstore.db.crytp12 must go back to the first name msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12
- msgstore-latest.db.crytp12 returns to being msgstore.db.crytp12 instead
Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp, to restore from backup and the latest chats will reappear!
With this trick on Android it is also possible to save multiple backup files and not just the two provided by Whatsapp.
You can then rename the msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 file to something else, like ott11.db.crypt12 .
This file will therefore not be recognized and overwritten by WhatsApp and in the next backup, a new file msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 will be created.
Recovery of deleted chat images and videos
It may be a surprise, but when you delete images and videos from WhatsApp, they disappear from the chat, but are not deleted from memory. The recovery of images and videos of WhatsApp deleted from the chat is therefore quite simple.You can then open the app to explore files in Android and go to the WhatsApp -> Media folder to search for the lost image or video to be restored.
Read deleted messages anyway
Thanks to an application called Message Portal for Android it is possible to store and read all the messages of the Whatsapp chats, including those that were then deleted by those who sent them. The app is automatic and is based on notifications, keeping all received messages in memory, including those that are then deleted.NOTE: Another article explains how to find out the content of messages received, but deleted in Whatsapp
