WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the app’s key features is the ability to delete sent messages, which can be useful if you change your mind about something you’ve said or if you sent a message to the wrong person or group. But what actually happens to messages when you hit ‘delete’? Where do deleted WhatsApp messages go?
Are deleted WhatsApp messages gone forever?
The short answer is no, deleted WhatsApp messages are not necessarily gone forever. When you delete a message, it is removed from your view of the chat and the view of other participants in the chat who have not yet seen the message. However, a copy of the message may still exist on WhatsApp’s servers and the recipient’s device.
Here’s a more detailed look at where deleted WhatsApp messages can still be found:
- On WhatsApp’s servers – When you send a message via WhatsApp, a copy of that message is stored on WhatsApp’s servers until it is delivered to the recipient’s device. When you delete a message, WhatsApp removes it from their servers, but that process is not instantaneous. There is a brief window when the message may still reside on their servers after you have deleted it.
- On the recipient’s device – If the recipient has already seen the message before you deleted it, it remains visible in their chat history. Deleting only removes it from your view and the server, not the recipient’s device.
- On backed-up chats – If either you or the recipient has chat backups enabled, the deleted message may exist in those backups. For example, if you back up your WhatsApp chats to Google Drive, the message will still be present there even after deleting it from the app.
So in summary, while deleting a WhatsApp message does remove it from view for you and the recipients who have not viewed it yet, traces of the message may still remain in other places like chat backups and on WhatsApp’s servers immediately after deletion.
When does WhatsApp permanently delete messages from its servers?
WhatsApp does not immediately delete messages from its servers when you hit delete. There is a brief period where the message may still exist on their systems before being permanently erased.
According to WhatsApp, when a message is deleted by a user, their servers retain the message for up to 30 days before it is permanently deleted. This 30 day retention period allows WhatsApp to handle situations like someone changing phones and restoring a backup, which could contain messages already deleted by other users.
The 30 day window gives WhatsApp time to identify and delete those messages from their servers that no longer need to be maintained for legitimate purposes. So if you need a message to be permanently gone from WhatsApp’s systems sooner, unfortunately there is no way to expedite it. You just have to wait out the 30 day retention period.
The exception is for messages that are not successfully sent due to expired timers or network issues. These failed messages are deleted from WhatsApp’s servers almost immediately after the sending fails.
Can recipients still see deleted messages in chat history?
Whether a recipient can still view a deleted message depends on if they have already seen the message before it was deleted.
- If the recipient has already seen the message, deleting it will not remove it from their chat screen. They will still see the message in their chat history.
- If the recipient has not already seen the message (e.g. their phone was offline), then deleting the message will prevent them from ever seeing it.
So in summary:
- If seen by recipient = They can still view deleted message
- If not seen by recipient = Deleted message is removed before they can view it
You do not get any notification if a message you have already seen is later deleted by the sender. The message will simply remain visible to you but appear deleted on the sender’s end.
Can deleted WhatsApp messages be recovered?
It is possible to recover deleted WhatsApp messages in some situations:
- From chat backups – If you or the recipient has chat backups enabled, you can dig into those backups to view deleted messages.
- From WhatsApp up to 30 days later – Since WhatsApp retains deleted messages for 30 days, you may be able to request WhatsApp recover and restore a recently deleted message within that window.
- From the recipient’s device – If the recipient saw the message before you deleted it, it remains on their device and can be recovered with data recovery software or tools (unless they also deleted it).
However, there is no built-in WhatsApp feature to view or recover deleted messages on your own device once they are gone from your chat screen. So enabling chat backups is the best way to give yourself the ability to recover deleted messages if needed.
Recovering deleted WhatsApp messages from Google Drive backup
If you have WhatsApp chat backups enabled in Google Drive, you can view and recover deleted messages from those backups. Here are the steps:
- Open Google Drive and locate your WhatsApp chat backup. It will likely be in a folder called WhatsApp/Databases.
- Download the latest .crypt12 backup file to your computer.
- Use a third party decryption tool to convert the .crypt12 file to a readable text format. Some options are Crypt12, WhatsApp Viewer, or Backuptrans Android WhatsApp Transfer.
- Once decrypted, open the file. You will see your full WhatsApp chat history including media files and any messages that were deleted.
- To recover a deleted message, simply copy it from the decrypted backup file and paste it back into the current chat.
This allows you to essentially resurrect deleted messages as long as they existed in your backed-up WhatsApp history. Keep in mind the backup will not include any messages deleted after the time of the last backup.
Can WhatsApp delete messages for everyone?
WhatsApp does not currently have a feature that allows you to delete a message for all chat participants. You can only delete a message for yourself, which removes it from your view of the chat but not the screens of those who already viewed it.
Some other messaging apps do have a ‘delete for everyone’ feature, such as Telegram, which allows deleting a message universally so that all participants see it deleted. However, WhatsApp has not yet implemented such a feature.
The closest WhatsApp has is the ability to delete messages up to 1 hour after sending them. This allows deleting a message before recipients have seen it, which prevents them from ever viewing the message. But it only works for a short 1 hour time window after sending.
Due to the nature of chat backups and message retention, true universal deletion is difficult for WhatsApp to implement while still providing message reliability and recoverability. The 1 hour unsend window is their current compromise, but it does not allow deleting messages from recipients’ screens after the fact.
Does deleting messages on WhatsApp notify the recipient?
When you delete a message on WhatsApp, it quietly disappears from your chat screen and the recipient is not notified or alerted in any way. Unlike some other messaging apps, WhatsApp has no message deletion indicators.
So if you delete a WhatsApp message:
- You will see the message disappear from your chat window.
- The recipient will not get any notification that you deleted the message.
- If the recipient already saw the message, it remains visible on their screen and they won’t know it’s deleted on your end unless they re-check the message.
- If the recipient had not already seen the message, it will be deleted from their view as well and they will never know a now-deleted message existed.
This allows you to essentially “undo” sending any message by deleting it, as long as the recipient has not already seen it. But it does not indicate to anyone that a message was deleted after the fact.
Can you see if someone deletes messages in WhatsApp?
There is no built-in way to see if someone else has deleted messages in WhatsApp, because deletions are not shown to recipients.
If you suspect someone may have deleted messages you previously saw, here are some signs to look for:
- Gaps in the conversation history – If you remember seeing messages that are now missing, deletions may have occurred.
- Changes in message timestamps – If there are big jumps in the timestamps between messages, it can indicate deletions.
- Missing media – If media like photos you recall seeing are now gone, the messages containing them may have been deleted.
However, there will be no definitive indicators or notifications that someone has deleted messages. The only way to know for sure is if you had previously saved or taken screenshots of the now-deleted messages.
Some third party WhatsApp viewer tools claim they can show deleted messages, but this only works if the messages still reside on WhatsApp’s servers which is unlikely after the 30 day retention period.
Can WhatsApp notify you if someone takes screenshots?
Unlike some social media and messaging platforms, WhatsApp currently does not notify you if another user takes a screenshot of your messages or media.
There are no plans for WhatsApp to add screenshot notifications, as it could infringe on reasonable uses like capturing information from conversations. Screen recordings also cannot be detected.
The only way you would know if someone takes a screenshot in WhatsApp is if they explicitly tell you or show you the screenshot. There are no visible indicators or notifications sent to tip you off.
If you want to prevent others from capturing your WhatsApp messages via screenshots, avoid sending sensitive content and utilize the disappearing messages feature, which makes messages ineligible for screenshotting after opening.
Key Takeaways
- Deleted WhatsApp messages are removed from your chat screen and WhatsApp’s servers, but may still reside in chat backups or on recipients’ devices.
- It takes up to 30 days for messages deleted on WhatsApp to be permanently deleted from their servers.
- You cannot delete messages from recipients’ chat screens after they have already viewed the message.
- Deleted messages can sometimes be recovered from chat backups or for a limited time from WhatsApp.
- WhatsApp does not notify recipients when you delete messages.
- You cannot definitively tell if someone else deletes messages, only look for circumstantial evidence.
The Bottom Line
While WhatsApp deleting messages does remove them from view, they are not always gone for good immediately. Traces remain on servers and chat histories briefly or through backups. Recipients are not informed when messages are deleted. Ultimately, deleting WhatsApp messages provides an “undo” for you more than truly wiping the slate totally clean.