How to Restore Your Deleted WhatsApp Chats
Losing important WhatsApp chats can be stressful, whether it’s due to accidentally deleting them or switching devices. However, there are different methods to restore your deleted chats, such as using backups stored on Google Drive or your device’s local storage.
Can I Get Back Deleted Messages on WhatsApp?
Yes, you can get back deleted messages on WhatsApp, but it depends on whether you have a backup of your chats. WhatsApp provides two main options for backing up your chat history: Google Drive for Android users and iCloud for iPhone users. If you have enabled these backups, you can easily restore your deleted messages. If you don’t have a backup, there are still some methods to try, but they might not be as straightforward.
Can I Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages Without Backup?
Recovering deleted WhatsApp messages with a backup is more challenging but possible. Third-party tools, such as MobileTrans – WhatsApp Transfer, can help retrieve your lost messages. These tools often work by scanning your phone’s internal storage for remnants of deleted messages. It’s important to use reputable software to avoid any security risks.
Backup and Restore Limitations
Before diving into the recovery methods, it’s important to note:
- Linked Devices: You cannot backup or restore chats on linked devices like WhatsApp Web, WhatsApp on Mac, or WhatsApp on Windows. This process must be done using your primary WhatsApp phone.
- Server Storage: WhatsApp does not store your chat history on its servers, so you need to rely on backups you’ve created.
Restoring WhatsApp Chats from Google Drive
If you’ve been backing up your WhatsApp chats to Google Drive, you can easily restore them by following these steps:
- Verify Backups: Ensure your chats are being backed up to Google Drive. You can set backups to occur daily, weekly, or monthly in WhatsApp settings under Chats > Chat backup.
- Install WhatsApp: Install WhatsApp from the Google Play Store on your new or reset device.
- Verify Your Number: Open WhatsApp and verify your phone number.
- Restore Backup: After verification, WhatsApp will prompt you to restore your chat history from Google Drive. Click on ‘Restore’ to start the process.
- Complete Setup: Once the restore is complete, click ‘Next’ to see your old chats.
If Google Drive does not have your chat history, WhatsApp will try to restore it from a local backup.
Restoring WhatsApp Chats from Local Backup
Your WhatsApp messages are also backed up on your phone’s local storage. Here’s how to restore them:
- Access Local Storage: Use a file manager app to navigate to the WhatsApp folder on your device’s internal storage or SD card.
- Locate Backups: In the WhatsApp folder, find the ‘Databases’ folder which contains your chat backups.
- Select Backup File: Choose the backup file you want to restore. These files are named in the format msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12.
- Rename File: To restore a specific backup, rename it to msgstore.db.crypt12, removing the date portion but keeping the crypt extension unchanged.
- Reinstall WhatsApp: Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp.
- Verify Your Number: Open WhatsApp and verify your phone number.
- Restore Chats: When prompted, tap on ‘Restore’ to retrieve your chats from the renamed local backup file.
Recovering WhatsApp Chats Without Backup
If you don’t have any backups, you can use third-party software like MobileTrans – WhatsApp Transfer by Wondershare to recover your chats:
- Install MobileTrans: Download and install MobileTrans on your computer.
- Connect Your Phone: Open MobileTrans and connect your phone to the computer using a USB cable.
- Backup WhatsApp Data: Choose the ‘WhatsApp Transfer’ option and follow the prompts to back up your WhatsApp data.
- View and Restore Data: After the backup, you can view the data and choose to restore it to your phone or save it to your computer.
Conclusion
Accidentally deleting your WhatsApp chats doesn’t mean they’re lost forever. You can easily restore your messages using Google Drive or local backups. Even without backups, tools like MobileTrans can recover your important conversations. Regularly backing up your chats is a good practice to avoid losing them in the future. Follow the steps outlined in this guide to ensure you never lose your valuable WhatsApp messages.
