How to recover deleted WhatsApp messages on Android and iOS devices

tech2 News StaffJan 06, 2020 13:57:44 IST

Last year, WhatsApp rolled out a lot of features in the app including 'Delete for everyone' that lets you delete a message after it has been sent so that the recipient can also not see it. But it happens a lot of times that you accidentally end up deleting an important message. Today we are going to give you a solution to that. Here are two methods how you can retract those deleted messages back both on Android and iOS phones.

Here is how to restore deleted WhatsApp messages

Method 1:

If you keep back up of WhatsApp chats on Google Drive or iCloud on a regular basis, then follow these steps:

Step 1: Uninstall the app

Step 2: Re-install the app on the same device with the same phone number

Step 3: When prompted tap on "Restore" old chats, tap on that and wait for the data to be restored

And voilà! You will have your deleted WhatsApp messages back.

(Also read: How to backup and restore WhatsApp chats on android devices)

Representational image.

Method 2:

If you do not keep a back up of WhatsApp chats, follow this guidebook. Do note that this method only works with Android.

Step 1: Go to phone Settings> File manager>WhatsApp> Database

Step 2: Rename the "msgstore.db.crypt12" to "msgstore_BACKUP.db.crypt12"

Step 3: Now you will see files with "msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12", pick the most recent one and rename it to "msgstore.db.crypt12"

Step 4: Open Google Drive and tap on menu (three verticle lines in the top left corner)

Step 5: Tap on "Backups" and delete the WhatsApp backup

Step 6: Now uninstall WhatsApp on your phone and re-install it with the same account

Step 7: When prompted select "msgstore.db.crypt12"> Restore and then wait for the back up to complete