Accidentally deleted important conversations? Perhaps you can recover deleted WhatsApp messages by accessing the application’s backup.
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Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages successfully will depend on several circumstances.
The main one is whether or not you have configured the automatic backup system that the application uses by default. It is in this system that you can find the deleted message.
But also important is the date on which the message you deleted was written or deleted.
See what your case is and see if your mistake is one that can be restored.
Recover Deleted Messages on WhatsApp
Some are saved in the application’s backup files
WhasApp makes a backup of your conversations every 24 hours and saves it locally on your mobile phone.
This is the backup configuration that the application offers to all its users by default. This means that the message you deleted may be recorded in this backup.
To find out if this is your case, just uninstall the application and reinstall it. In this process, WhatsApp will ask you whether or not you want to restore the conversations you had in the app.
If you choose RESTORE, the application will retrieve the backup file made in the last 24 hours and will make it available. The message you deleted may be there and you will be able to recover it. If not, read on. There may still be a solution.
The conversation was not recorded in the last backup file
Reinstalling and RESTORING the application makes WhatsApp recover the last file from the automatic backup. But imagine that you deleted the conversation that you want to recover not now, but yesterday or more days ago.
In this case it may no longer appear in the last 24 hours backup. If this is your case, go to the title Restore less recent backups and still try to recover it.
The message was too recent
It deleted a message that had been written so recently that no automatic backup had yet occurred. These are created every day at 2:00am and saved as a file on your phone.
If your message was from that day and was deleted before that time, it will be lost. Look Configure your backups to work around this situation in the future.
It’s been deleted for over a week
Your phone automatically stores up to the last seven days of backup files locations.
If you had already deleted the message more than 7 days ago, the daily backups of the application no longer show that conversation because as the files are being created they are replacing the old ones. The message is definitely lost. Look Configure your backups to work around this situation in the future.
No space on your phone
If you’ve never entered the Settings to configure how your backup is made, it is, by default, being saved exclusively on your mobile phone.
If, when recording the backup file, there is a lack of space to record it, it will not be produced. The file that will be saved as a backup may not be the last 24 hours, but an earlier one.
It’s good for retrieving older messages, but bad for retrieving recent messages. Look Configure your backups to work around this situation in the future.
Recover Deleted Messages on WhatsApp
Restore less recent backups
If your message does not appear when you reinstall the application and you have not deleted it for more than a week, you will have to manually look for the backup file that saves it. If you remember the date you deleted it, your work will be easier.
These files are usually stored in the >sdcard or >WhatsApp folder. Look for them under the >Internal Storage or >Main Storage tabs. If you have a file management application installed, just use it to find what you’re looking for.
>WhatsApp >Databases
Inside the >sdcard or >WhatApp folder look for the >Databases folder. This is where the files that the application saves will appear. Each one is a backup of the last few days. The one with no date in the name is what was done in the last 24 hours and is what is used by default when you Reinstall and RESTORE the application.
Add a word to the name of that undated file, so that when Restoring the application you don’t look for it, and remove the date from the file that you want to be used in its place in the reinstallation. See this example:
- msgstore.db.crypt12 is the name of the last recorded file
- add one word to it: todaymsgstore.db.crypt12
- in file with date: msgstore-2021-01-17.1.db.crypt12, delete that date so it looks like this: msgstore.db.crypt12 (never change the crypt extension number)
Now just reinstall the application, tapping RESTORE when prompted. Remember that by doing this you will lose conversations after the date they were in the file, but you can recover them in the file Hojemsgstore.db.crypt12, as in our example. They will be recovered if you remove the word “today” and reinstall the application.
Configure your backups
If you are not interested in this automatic application backup system for recovering deleted messages on Whatsapp, try to better adapt it to your interests and your personal use of the application. Tap the three vertical dots inside the app, go to >Settings >Chats > Backup.
Whenever you want to make a backup outside of 2:00 am every day, you can tap Backup. You will have a file on your mobile phone with all the conversations you have in the application at the time you made that copy.
You can also choose to record in the cloud as well. Just tap >Copy to Google Drive if you’re an Android user or >Copy to iCloud if you’re an iOS user. This situation is quite convenient for when you have to change your cell phone.
When choosing to save to the cloud, you can choose the frequency with which this backup is made: daily, weekly or monthly. You already know, your choice of periodicity will dictate whether it will be easier for you to recover older (monthly) or more recent (daily) conversations that you have deleted by mistake.
