In this article, we'd be seeing a step by step guide on how how to recover deleted Whatsapp messages, whether you're using an Android or Apple device. Just like the Facebook Messenger app, it is no longer news that you can remove/unsend a message you sent to someone if you feel like it wasn't appropriate. While the features are good, sometimes, you might feel like you mistakenly deleted something, or you probably, out of curiosity, want to reread an already deleted message.
Well, while the WhatsApp as a company didn't provide a feature for that (no company will..anyways), we have been able to figure out how you can recover deleted messages without stress.
For personal safety, you should know code to check if your phone is hacked or your WhatsApp is tapped by some cyber theft.
How to see deleted WhatsApp messages on Android
The first thing you need to know about restoring a deleted WhatsApp message on your Android device is that you should have already backed up your chats in the past. Yes, you must have your WhatApp backup active before carrying out the steps below.Before you proceed, kindly note that you'll lose some recent messages, especially those you received after your recent backup. So if you have something you don't want to lose, I'd suggest you skip this method or better still, tell the person(s) to resend them when you're done. Information Guide Africa shouldn't be held responsible for any loss of data that occurs as a result of these.
To turn on your WhatsApp chat backup on Android, go to Settings > Chats > Chat backup. You'll be able to set up the frequency of your chat backup between never, daily, weekly or monthly. Alternatively, you can even do a manual backup. As you're using an Android device, you'll be required to select the Google account where you want the backup to be stored.
One easy way of restoring a deleted WhatsApp chat is to recover them from local backups on your phone. If however, your Google Drive has overwritten the deleted messages, then follow these steps below:
• Go to your File Manager, (you can download Google's Files app). Now go to WhatsApp folder > Database. You'll see all the WhatsApp backup files that are stored locally on your phone.
• Select the file msgstore.db.crypt12 and rename it to msgstore_BACKUP.db.crypt12.
NOTE: This is your most recent backup file and you need to rename it so as to prevent it from being overwritten. In case things go wrong, you can always rename this file to its original name and restore.
• Next, you will see a bunch of files in this folder in the format msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12. These are your older WhatsApp backups, you can pick the most recent one and rename it to msgstore.db.crypt12.
• We're going to do something tricky now to force your phone to restore from the local backup instead of the Google Drive. Open your Google Drive app and tap on the hamburger icon (the three vertical lines) > Backups. Next, delete the WhatsApp there.
• Finally, uninstall WhatsApp reinstall it. Set it up like a new WhatsApp and once you're done, you'll be prompted to restore chats from a local backup, considering you don't have a chat backup on the cloud. Tap on restore and you're done, you'll get the deleted chats back.
NOTE: You can still restore the normal Google Drive back, it'll also work. You can use the above method if your Google drive has overwritten deleted messages.
How to see deleted WhatsApp messages on iPhone
Just like the Android users, you'll have to activate your chat backup for this method to work. It is also very simple, just go to your WhatsApp Settings, click on Chats and then Chat Backup. Here, you'll be able to select the Auto Backup frequency or alternatively, you can use Back Up Now to manually initiate a backup to iCloud.To restore your deleted chats via iCloud, simply uninstall and reinstall the app. Once you're done setting it up, you'll be prompted to restore chats from a local backup.
NOTE: If you got a message after your most recent cloud backup and deleted it, there's no way to recover it.
Summary
We hope the above steps will be very useful to you. If you don't want to use the above steps, you can also make use of a third method which involves downloading the Notification history app from the Android Playstore.The app is free and will help you record all your notifications. To view any deleted message, you simply have to open the app and tap on notifications. Then select the contact's name or number. The primary limitation of using this app is that you'll only see the first 100 characters of the message. Also, The messages will be deleted once you’ll restart your device.
Before you leave, also check out our step by step guide on how to set up and monetise a WhatsApp TV.
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