The more often we use WhatsApp in our daily communication, the more likely we are to store important information in those chats. It could be a visit to the doctor, a purchase agreement or proof of debt from someone.
Either way, if you accidentally delete them, you should be able to recover those WhatsApp messages. Here’s how to do it.
Keep in mind, if a user deletes a message and then backs up the archive, the deleted message will be deleted in that backup. At that time, the message will not be able to be recovered. So if a user deletes a message that needs to be restored, make sure all automatic backups are canceled immediately, and don’t back up anything manually.
Recover deleted messages on Android
First, delete WhatsApp from the phone, then reinstall it. The user has to do the whole setup again with the phone number and verify the number. The user must also set up a two-step authentication number if setting it up with a previous installation.
After verifying the number, the app will notify you if it has detected a backup in Google Drive. It was a chance to recover it. If you already tap SKIP, the user will not be able to restore from Google Drive. So have to uninstall and reinstall again.
But user can choose SKIP if want to restore from local backup.
The backup will now be downloaded to the phone and restored. How long it takes will depend on the size of the archive and the speed of the internet connection. After the backup is complete, the user will be asked to fill in a display name and enter the two-factor authentication code again. Then a message will appear on the screen.
1. Recover messages from internal memory
If instead, the user has backed up the WhatsApp archive to the device’s local storage or SD card, here’s how to restore it. Use a file manager like Google Files to access your phone’s internal storage. Find the WhatsApp folder. Its location varies from device to device, so users will have to do a bit of searching.
When you have found the folder, go to Databases and the user will see a file named like this. The filename will be slightly different. Rename it so that it has the word BACKUP in it, like msgstore_BACKUP.db.crypt14.
Find the file in the folder you want to recover and rename it to the previous file. An example would be msgstore.db.crypt14. Now uninstall WhatsApp, reinstall it and do the initial setup again.
When it comes time to restore the backup, since there is no Google Drive backup to detect, it will detect the local storage version instead.
2. Restoring from a previous backup
If the user has more than one backup stored on local storage or SD card, the user can choose to skip the most recent backup and choose the older one instead. The method here is almost identical to the previous method, except that each file in the Database section will have a date attached, such as msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt14.
Previous backups may have crypt13 or crypt12 at the end, but users should not change this number. All you have to do is select the one you want to recover and remove the date so that it is renamed, like msgstore.1.db.crypt14.
But before doing so, make sure the file that already has that name has BACKUP added to its name. It is clear here that you cannot have two files with the same name. Now go through the process of reinstalling WhatsApp, and select Restore.
3. Recover deleted messages on iPhone
Since iPhone doesn’t support SD card or restoring from local storage, the only way is through iCloud backup. It should be simpler.
This is the same as recovering an Android phone from Google Drive. Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp on iPhone. Set up and verify the number again. Select Restore and it will detect an iCloud backup, where the user can then reset everything.
