WhatsApp has become one of the most popular instant messaging platforms, with over 2 billion users worldwide. Many users rely on WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends and family. One common issue that WhatsApp users face is accidentally deleting important messages and media. Fortunately, with WhatsApp Web, there is a way to restore deleted messages.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk through the steps to restore deleted WhatsApp messages in WhatsApp Web. We will cover:
- Why messages get deleted in WhatsApp
- How the delete feature works in WhatsApp
- Requirements for restoring deleted WhatsApp messages
- Step-by-step instructions to restore deleted messages
- Troubleshooting tips
By the end of this guide, you will know how to successfully recover deleted messages, photos, videos and other media in WhatsApp Web.
Why Messages Get Deleted in WhatsApp
There are a few common reasons why WhatsApp messages may get deleted:
- Accidental deletion: It’s easy to accidentally delete a message when you meant to just scroll past it. One slip of the finger is all it takes.
- Clearing chat history: You can delete full conversations in WhatsApp by clearing chat history. This permanently erases all messages in a chat.
- Remote deletion: If the sender deletes a message for everyone, it will get deleted from your chats as well.
- Account switching: Switching WhatsApp accounts on the same device can cause previous messages to be deleted.
- App uninstallation: If you uninstall WhatsApp without backing up chats, all messages could get erased.
- Data corruption: In rare cases, a bug or data corruption issue could lead to message loss in WhatsApp.
No matter how it happens, accidentally losing important WhatsApp messages can be frustrating. The good news is that you can recover deleted messages in many cases.
How the Delete Feature Works in WhatsApp
To understand how to restore deleted WhatsApp messages, it helps to first understand how WhatsApp’s delete feature works:
– When you delete a message, it gets removed from your chat screen immediately. However, it will still exist on WhatsApp’s servers until the next backup.
– There are two delete options:
– Delete for me – Deletes the message from your chat only
– Delete for everyone – Deletes the message for all participants in the chat
– Media (photos, videos, documents) that you delete are moved to the “Deleted files” section within WhatsApp. They remain recoverable from here until you permanently delete them.
– Chats marked as “cleared” have all messages deleted locally and on the server. This erases all trace of the chat history.
– WhatsApp automatically creates daily backups at 2 AM local time. Backups contain your message history from the past 24 hours.
– Backups are stored on your phone’s internal storage or Google Drive if enabled.
– Older backups get continuously overwritten as new backups are created every day.
So in summary, deleted messages remain recoverable until WhatsApp makes a new backup overriding the deleted data. Therefore, it’s crucial to restore deleted messages before the next automatic backup occurs.
Requirements for Restoring Deleted WhatsApp Messages
Due to how WhatsApp’s backup system works, there are a few requirements for successfully retrieving deleted messages:
– You need to have created a backup before the messages were deleted. WhatsApp only allows restoring data from existing backups.
– The backup must be stored locally on your device’s storage or Google Drive.
– For iPhone users, the phone must not have been reset to factory settings after the messages were deleted.
– You need access to the WhatsApp account used on the phone where the messages were deleted.
– The chat history must not have been cleared. Clearing all chats permanently erases them.
– For deleted media files, your WhatsApp version must have the “Deleted files” feature. This is available on WhatsApp for iPhone and Android.
As long as these requirements are met, you have a great chance of retrieving deleted messages through WhatsApp Web.
Step-by-Step Guide to Restore Deleted WhatsApp Messages
Here is a step-by-step walkthrough of how to view and recover deleted WhatsApp messages using WhatsApp Web:
1. Install WhatsApp on Your PC
First, install the desktop version of WhatsApp on your computer from the official WhatsApp site: https://www.whatsapp.com/download/
This will allow you to access your WhatsApp account and backups through WhatsApp Web on your PC.
2. Link Your Phone to WhatsApp Web
– Open the WhatsApp desktop app on your computer.
– On your phone, open WhatsApp and tap the “Settings” icon.
– Go to “WhatsApp Web/Desktop” and tap “Link a Device”.
– Point your phone’s camera at the QR code that appears on the WhatsApp desktop screen.
– Your phone will now be linked to WhatsApp Web. All your chats will sync across devices.
3. Check for the Deleted Messages
– Once your accounts are linked, open the chat where the message was deleted.
– Scroll up in the chat to the time period before the message was deleted.
– If your WhatsApp backup was created after the message was sent, but before it was deleted, the message should still be visible in WhatsApp Web.
4. Recover Deleted Media Files
– If you are looking for deleted media files, open the “Settings” menu in WhatsApp Web.
– Go to “Storage and data” > “Manage Storage”.
– In the “Gallery” tab, click on “Deleted files” to view your recently deleted media.
– Select the files you want to recover and click “Restore”.
5. Backup Chats Before Restoring
– Before restoring a deleted message, create a new backup in WhatsApp Web.
– Go to Settings > Chats > Backup chats. This will manually trigger a new backup to the latest point.
– Now you can restore the deleted message without worrying about it getting deleted again in the next daily auto backup.
6. Android: Use Local Backup to Restore
If the deleted message is not visible in WhatsApp Web, you can restore it using your phone’s local WhatsApp backup:
– On Android, uninstall WhatsApp. This will automatically prompt you to restore chats from a local backup when you reinstall it.
– Select the backup created before the message was deleted.
– Reinstall WhatsApp and restore this backup during setup. The deleted message should now be recovered.
7. iPhone: Use iCloud Backup to Restore
For iOS devices, you can utilize an iCloud backup to restore deleted WhatsApp messages:
– Go to iPhone Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups.
– Find the latest iCloud backup created before the message was deleted. Tap on it.
– Tap “Restore” to restore your phone state to the date of this backup.
– After your iPhone is restored, reinstall WhatsApp. This will pull and restore your message history from the iCloud backup.
Troubleshooting Tips
If you are still unable to view deleted messages in WhatsApp Web, here are some troubleshooting tips:
- Double check that your phone completed a backup after the message was sent, but before it got deleted.
- Try using a local Android backup or iCloud backup if WhatsApp Web does not have the deleted data.
- For media files, check if WhatsApp Web has the “Deleted files” option. If not, update to the latest WhatsApp version.
- Make sure your chat history wasn’t cleared. Clearing all chats erases message history forever.
- If all else fails, contact WhatsApp support for further help with data recovery.
The key takeaway is that deleted WhatsApp messages remain recoverable from recent backups. With WhatsApp Web and local backups, you stand an excellent chance of restoring accidentally deleted messages.
Conclusion
Retrieving deleted WhatsApp messages is possible using WhatsApp Web and local device backups:
– Install WhatsApp desktop and link your account to access chat history and backups on WhatsApp Web.
– Check WhatsApp Web for deleted messages before the next daily backup overrides it.
– Use local Android or iCloud backups if the deleted data isn’t on WhatsApp Web.
– For lost media files, restore from the WhatsApp “Deleted files” folder before it gets permanently cleared.
– Act quickly as WhatsApp regularly creates fresh backups, overwriting older recoverable data.
We hope these tips help you avoid the headache of accidentally losing important WhatsApp messages and media. Be sure to backup your WhatsApp data regularly as a precaution.
Did you find this guide useful? Let us know if you have any other questions about restoring deleted WhatsApp messages.