Did you accidentally delete some WhatsApp messages, or did the person you’ve been chatting with remove some messages on their end? This guide demonstrates how to see deleted messages on WhatsApp.
Good to know: did you know that you can share your WhatsApp profile via a link? Try one of these methods.
Content
- 1. Check Notifications History/Log (Android)
- 2. Reinstall the App (Android, iPhone)
- 3. Recover from iCloud/iTunes (iPhone)
- 4. Try a Third-Party App (Android, iOS)
1. Check Notifications History/Log (Android)
If you’re looking to retrieve a recently deleted message from your chat buddy, try this method. On Android devices, you can view your notification history, and hopefully, it will contain the missing message.
On your Android phone, open the Settings app, and navigate to Notifications, then select Notification history.
You should see a list of your recent notifications (last 24 hours). If the other person deleted the message after a notification was already sent to your device, you’ll be able to see it in your history.
Note: to be able to view your notification history, you need to have enabled the option previously. Do this by accessing Settings -> Notifications -> Notification history, and enabling the Use notification history toggle at the top.
If you wish to access your notification history faster, long-tap a space on your home screen. Select Widgets from the menu.
Go to Settings, and touch and hold the Settings shortcut option below to place it on your home screen.
Tap Notification log. An icon will appear on your home screen, and each time you press it, you will be able to view a list of your recent notifications.
Note: on iPhone, even if you can view older notifications from the Notifications Center, alerts for deleted messages on WhatsApp will disappear from view.
2. Reinstall the App (Android, iPhone)
If you want to recover WhatsApp messages you or your conversation buddy deleted, try reinstalling the app. If you have previously made a backup of your chats, you may be able to restore the lost messages.
Tip: take a look at the best WhatsApp sticker packs.
Android
Google offers the option to back up your chats to a Google Account. Make sure you’ve assigned an account in WhatsApp before creating your WhatsApp backup. To check, press on the three dots in the upper-right corner, and select Settings -> Chats -> Chat backup.
Tap on Google Account. If you have multiple Google accounts, select the one with the most free storage. Tap on the Back up button to start the backup process.
Whenever you need to recover missing messages, uninstall the app, download it again from the Google Play Store, and reinstall it on your device. The app will scan for available backups. Once it finds one, tap Restore -> Next.
On Android, you can also back up and restore individual chats. Go to Settings -> Chats -> Chat history.
Select Export chat from the options.
Choose a chat you wish to export, and opt whether you want it to include media.
The backup will be available in a ZIP file, which you can immediately share to save and view an important chat within seconds. It’s the easier solution to quickly recovering a lost message.
iPhone
WhatsApp on your iOS device relies on your iCloud account for backups. Again, you can create a backup of all your chats, or opt to back up individual chats.
To make a large backup on WhatsApp, press the Settings button in the menu at the bottom, then select Chats -> Chat backup.
Press the Back up now button.
When you reinstall WhatsApp from the App Store, press Restore -> Next to bring back your deleted messages.
As on Android, you can also back up individual chats. Open a conversation, and tap on the person’s profile picture at the top of the window. Swipe to the bottom, and tap Export chat.
The chat will be saved as a ZIP file, and you can share it with others via social media apps. Alternatively, select to Save to Files for later viewing.
Tip: learn how to download iOS apps from iTunes on Windows.
3. Recover from iCloud/iTunes (iPhone)
Alternatively, recover your deleted WhatsApp messages by using your full iCloud or iTunes backup. Do note that these methods require that you factory reset your iPhone after creating the backup.
iCloud
Open the Settings app on your iPhone to create an iCloud backup. Tap on your name/Apple ID at the top of the display.
Select iCloud, then tap on iCloud Backup under Device Backups.
Make sure the option is on. If not, toggle the switch next to Back Up This Phone on, then press the Back Up Now button.
Factory reset the device.
As you’re setting up the device once again, select the Restore from iCloud Backup option in the Apps & Data screen.
Install WhatsApp and log in with the same phone number. Your deleted WhatsApp messages will be waiting.
iTunes
If you regularly use iTunes to back up your iPhone data, you can rely on the program to restore your WhatsApp chats (along with everything else).
To create a backup, open the iTunes app on your computer and connect your iPhone using a USB cable. Click the tiny phone icon.
Select Summary from the menu on the left, then click Back Up Now on the right.
When setting up your iPhone again, select Restore from Mac or PC in the Apps & Data screen.
Connect your iPhone to your PC, open iTunes, go to the Summary section again, then press Restore Backup. Select the backup that contains your WhatsApp messages to restore them.
FYI: don’t want specific people to see your WhatsApp status? Learn how to hide it.
4. Try a Third-Party App (Android, iOS)
If the methods covered above haven’t yielded the results you wanted, you can also try to see the deleted Whatsapp messages via a third-party app.
On Android, give Notisave a try. This app will save all WhatsApp messages you receive via the app. If your chat buddy decides to delete some of their messages in your conversation, you’ll still be able to view the entire chat unaltered in the Notisave app.
Download and install the Notisave app on your device. The first time you launch the app, you’ll need to grant some permissions.
Now every time you receive new messages in WhatsApp (and from other apps, too, including Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, and more), they will show up grouped in conversations in the Notisave app.
If you want to have the full conversations in Notisave, you can reply from within the app. Your replies will be automatically mirrored in WhatsApp. One thing to note here is that if you delete your own messages via the Notisave app, this won’t be reflected in WhatsApp.
Notisave also keeps track of notifications coming from other apps, if you wish to track those as well.
On iPhone, you can try an app like PhoneRescue, but expect mixed results. You could get lucky, but don’t pin all your hopes on this tool, especially in the free version.
Tip: learn how to easily change your profile or group picture in WhatsApp.
Now that you’ve recovered your lost messages, if you want to find a particular message on WhatsApp, check out how to search WhatsApp messages. Read on to learn how to message yourself on WhatsApp to use it as a note-taking app.
Image credit: Unsplash. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.
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Alexandra Arici –
Staff Writer
Alexandra is passionate about mobile tech and can be often found fiddling with a smartphone from some obscure company. She kick-started her career in tech journalism in 2013, after working a few years as a middle-school teacher. Constantly driven by curiosity, Alexandra likes to know how things work and to share that knowledge with everyone.
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