WhatsApp’s “delete for everyone” feature allows users to delete sent messages from both the sender’s and receiver’s chats. This can be useful if you sent a message to the wrong person or shared something you didn’t mean to. However, some WhatsApp users wonder if it’s possible to recover messages that were deleted using this feature.
How does WhatsApp’s delete for everyone feature work?
When you delete a message for everyone, WhatsApp removes it from your chat history as well as the recipient’s chat history. It does this by deleting the message from WhatsApp’s servers so it no longer exists anywhere on WhatsApp.
Here is a quick overview of how it works:
– You can delete messages up to 1 hour, 8 minutes and 16 seconds after sending them.
– Tap and hold on the message you want to delete > Tap Delete > Delete for everyone.
– A prompt will show up saying “This message was deleted” in your and the recipient’s chat.
– The message will be replaced by “This message was deleted” text in both chats.
– WhatsApp states the message is deleted from their servers and can’t be retrieved.
So in theory, if WhatsApp has completely deleted the message from its servers, there should be no way to retrieve it. But is this truly the case?
Is it possible to recover deleted WhatsApp messages?
While WhatsApp claims deleted messages are permanently deleted, there are some scenarios where you may be able to recover deleted WhatsApp messages:
– **If the message was deleted recently** – When a message is deleted, WhatsApp removes it from their servers but data remnants may still exist on the device briefly before being overwritten. Apps like Dr.Fone and Fonelab can scan devices and recover these deleted remnants.
– **If the recipient’s notifications are on** – When you receive a WhatsApp message, a notification appears even if you don’t open the app. This notification is stored locally on the device. If the message is then deleted, the notification can sometimes be used to recover the message text.
– **If the recipient’s chat backup includes the message** – WhatsApp backups can include messages you’ve received, even if later deleted by the sender. So if the recipient backs up chats before the message is deleted, it may be in the backup.
– **If the message was sent to a group** – Deleting for everyone only deletes the message for other individual recipients. The message will still exist in the group chat history for all participants.
– **If the message is stored in the sender’s email notification** – WhatsApp’s email notification contains the content of new messages received. So if enabled, the sender’s email may contain the message text even if deleted on WhatsApp.
Can you recover deleted WhatsApp messages after 1 hour?
WhatsApp only allows deleting messages up to 1 hour, 8 minutes, 16 seconds after sending. So if a message is deleted after this time, it cannot be deleted for everyone anymore. The message will remain deleted on the sender’s end but still exist on the recipient’s chat history.
So in this case, the message can be recovered from the recipient’s device as long as they haven’t also deleted it or cleared chat history. Recipient chat backups would also still contain the message if backed up after the deletion time limit.
Tools and methods to try recovering deleted WhatsApp messages
If you need to recover a deleted WhatsApp message, either as the sender or recipient, there are several tools and methods you can try:
Mobile apps
| App | How it works |
| Dr.Fone – WhatsApp Recovery | Scans your phone and extracts deleted WhatsApp messages if existing remnants still exist on the device. |
| Fonelab for WhatsApp | Recovers deleted WhatsApp messages from iOS and Android devices by scanning directly on the phone. |
| iMyFone D-Back | WhatsApp message recovery for iOS devices by scanning WhatsApp databases on the phone. |
These apps search for deleted messages remnants directly on your phone and can often restore message even after long time periods.
WhatsApp backups
If you regularly backup your WhatsApp chats, you may be able to find deleted messages in older backups:
– On Android, WhatsApp automatically saves backups to your phone’s internal storage. You can use apps like Dr.Fone to extract and view message data from these backups.
– For iPhone users, WhatsApp backs up your chats to iCloud. You can access and restore from these iCloud backups using apps like iMyFone D-Back.
Google Drive and iCloud backups
Full phone backups to Google Drive (Android) and iCloud (iPhone) can also help retrieve deleted WhatsApp messages. These backups include WhatsApp databases which you can extract and view on a computer.
Chat history of sender/recipients
As mentioned before, group chat history will retain deleted messages. Also, on the recipient’s end, their chat history will show messages deleted after the 1 hour deletion timeframe.
Email notifications
If you have WhatsApp email notifications enabled, the message text may be captured in the email even if deleted from WhatsApp. So check your email inbox for any notification emails around the time the message was sent.
Preventing message recovery
While recoverable in some cases, here are some tips to better secure deleted WhatsApp messages:
– **Delete chats frequently** – Regularly clear your WhatsApp chat history and backups to remove deleted messages.
– **Back up chats sparingly** – Be selective in backing up your chats to limit backups containing deleted messages.
– **Turn off notifications** – Disable chat notifications to prevent message previews being stored.
– **Use disappearing messages** – Turn on disappearing messages to automatically delete messages after a set time.
Ethical considerations around recovering deleted messages
While possible in some cases, there are ethical issues to consider when recovering deleted WhatsApp messages:
– It can be a breach of trust and invasion of privacy if the sender clearly intended the message to be deleted.
– Recovering messages without permission from the sender and recipient may violate privacy laws in some countries.
– Messages may contain sensitive, private information that you are not entitled to access.
– Group messages belong to all participants, so recovering deleted group messages affects multiple people.
– The sender may have had good reason to delete a message, so recovering it against their wishes causes harm.
So before attempting to restore deleted WhatsApp messages, think carefully about whether you have the right to access the information as doing so may be unethical or illegal in some circumstances. It’s best to only recover messages you have permission to view.
Conclusion
While WhatsApp’s delete for everyone feature is designed to permanently erase messages, there are ways for either party to potentially recover deleted messages in some situations. This includes using data recovery apps, accessing backups and notifications, and viewing chat history.
However, options to restore deleted WhatsApp messages become limited over time. There is only about a 1 hour window to use WhatsApp’s delete for everyone feature. After that, messages deleted by a sender will remain visible on the recipient’s end.
It’s also important to carefully consider the ethics and privacy implications before attempting to recover any deleted messages without permission. While possible to restore messages in some cases, doing so may be a breach of trust or even illegal.