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Wondering how to recover deleted WhatsApp chat? Follow our step-by-step guide
WhatsApp allows you to delete any chat or message on the online messaging platform. However, if you delete an important WhatsApp message or chat by accident or lose it inadvertently when resetting or changing your device it can be a hassle to retrieve such messages and media. In this article, we'll give you information on how you can restore deleted messages or media on WhatsApp on Android mobile phones and iPhones, how you can create a backup of your WhatsApp account for recovery, and more. So, let's get started!
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Android users can create a backup of their WhatsApp chat history on Google Drive on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This can be used to recover any deleted or missing WhatsApp messages; albeit, within the selected auto-backup period. Any chats from before the next backup will be lost.
Step 1: Uninstall WhatsApp from your Android device and then, reinstall from Play Store.
Step 2: Now, open the app and select the Agree and continue button. After that, select your preferred language of choice.
Step 3: Enter your registered WhatsApp number to sign in. Type in the OTP received on the same number for verification.
Step 4: Post verification, you'll get a prompt to restore your chat backup from Google Drive. Tap on Restore to initiate the recovery process.
Step 5: Once the initialisation is complete, tap on Next to fill in your details such as username. Once done, you'll be redirected to the chats screen.
WhatsApp will continue to download media files including photos, videos, documents and more on your Android smartphone in the background.
If you don't have your chat history backed up on Google Drive, WhatsApp will automatically pull the same from your local backup file. You'll need to transfer the backup WhatsApp files to your Android phone using a file explorer, computer or SD card. Follow these steps:
Step 1: Download a file manager app on your Android phone or open the one that comes pre-installed with your device.
Step 2: In the app, navigate to the /sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases or Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Datebases for Android 12 and above devices.
Step 3: From the list of backup files, copy the most recent one and paste it in the Databases folder in the internal storage of your existing or new device.
Step 4: Now, uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp on your Android phone and log in using your registered phone number.
Step 5: When prompted, tap the Restore option to recover all your deleted or missing chats from the local backup.
Note: Your phone's internal storage automatically stores last seven days' WhatsApp history in local backup files. This backup is created every day at 2.00 am and saved as a file.
Before you go on to follow the below-mentioned steps, you need to verify that you have an iCloud backup for WhatsApp in the first place. Open WhatsApp and go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup. If you find that the backup was performed, proceed as mentioned below:
Step 1: Uninstall WhatsApp from your iPhone by choosing Remove App > Delete App.
Step 2: Now, go to the App Store and reinstall WhatsApp on your phone.
If the above-given methods don't work, you can try to find the deleted WhatsApp messages either in your phone's internal storage or on the cloud storage. Here's a guide on how you can recover deleted media from WhatsApp on Android without chat backup.
By now, you must already know that you can only restore deleted WhatsApp messages and media if you have your chats backed up on cloud storage. Even though WhatsApp creates a local backup every night on Android devices, it won't be of any use if you end up losing the phone. Therefore, it is vital that you create a cloud backup on Google Drive or iCloud.
Read on to know how you can backup WhatsApp messages on Google Drive and iCloud:
Step 1: Open WhatsApp and tap your profile picture at the top-right for more options.
Step 2: Now go to Chats
Step 3: On the next screen select Chat Backup and tap Back up to Google Drive.
Step 4: On the page that opens, select a backup frequency from Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
Step 5: Next, choose the Google account where you'd like to back up your WhatsApp chat history (or Add account if you haven't linked your phone to any Google account).
Step 6: Now, select Back up over and click on the network you wish to use for backups. (It is preferable to use a stable Wi-Fi connection for backup rather than cellular data.)
If you wish to manually back up your WhatsApp chats to Google Drive at any time, just open the app, open the three-dot menu, and tap Settings > Chat > Chat Backup > Back up.
Step 1: Open WhatsApp and tap the Settings tab at the bottom.
Step 2: From here go to Chats and then select Chat Backup
Step 2: Now select Auto Backup.
Step 3: Now, select a backup frequency from Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
WhatsApp on iOS also gives you the option to include or exclude videos from the backup. It might take a while for the iCloud backup process to complete so it is better to use Wi-Fi. In case you wish to create a manual iCloud backup of your WhatsApp chats at any time, open WhatsApp, go to the Settings menu, and tap Chats > Chat Backup > Back Up Now.
Note: Every time a new backup file is created, WhatsApp deletes older backup files. Android phones store backup files for up to seven days' while iPhone keeps only the latest one.
No. The only way to recover your deleted WhatsApp messages is if you've backed them up. In case you've forgotten to enable the Chat Backup option, the chats will be lost forever.
Only Android devices allow you to restore older WhatsApp chats since they give you access to their local backup files. Here are the steps to restore chat backups from a later date:
If you can't find any backup file for WhatsApp on your Google Drive, please check that:
If you're unable to restore a WhatsApp backup file from Google Drive, verify the following:
If you're unable to restore the backup of your WhatsApp from iCloud, verify the following: