WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. It allows you to easily communicate with friends, family, coworkers, and more through text, voice notes, video calls, and more.
With so many conversations happening daily, your WhatsApp chats can quickly pile up. To help keep your chats organized, WhatsApp has an archiving feature that removes conversations from your main chat list without deleting them.
However, archived chats aren’t permanently removed – they can still be unarchived and accessed anytime. So is there a way to permanently archive WhatsApp chats so they are no longer accessible?
Can you permanently delete individual WhatsApp chats?
Yes, WhatsApp allows you to permanently delete individual chats one by one so they are no longer accessible in your account. Here’s how:
- Open the WhatsApp chat you want to delete
- Tap and hold the chat
- Tap “Delete chat” and confirm when prompted
The chat will be permanently deleted from your phone and WhatsApp server. However, this isn’t the most efficient method if you want to mass delete several old chats.
Can you permanently delete multiple WhatsApp chats at once?
Unfortunately, WhatsApp does not have a built-in feature to mass delete multiple chats simultaneously. You’ll have to manually select and delete each individual chat one by one.
This can be very time consuming if you have hundreds of chats built up over the years. Some workarounds include:
- Using a third party app like WazzapMigrator to delete all WhatsApp chats at once
- Backing up your chat history, uninstalling and reinstalling WhatsApp, then restoring only important chats you want to keep
- Performing a factory reset on your phone if you want to wipe all WhatsApp data
However, these methods involve extra steps and loss of potentially important chats. There’s no direct way to mass select and permanently delete chats within WhatsApp.
Can you auto-delete old WhatsApp chats after a period of time?
WhatsApp has rolled out a new auto-delete setting that can automatically delete old chats after a set duration of time. Here’s how to use it:
- Open WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy
- Tap on “Default duration” under Auto-delete chats
- Select a duration after which chats will auto-delete (24 hours, 7 days, 90 days, etc)
This setting will automatically delete one-to-one and group chats after the selected duration has passed since your last interaction. It helps automatically clear out old chats without you having to manually delete them.
However, there are some caveats:
- It only applies to new chats going forward, not existing chats
- Chats are still recoverable in backup files until the backup is deleted
- You can’t specify certain chats to exclude from auto-delete
So while helpful for managing storage, it doesn’t permanently delete chats upon a set time limit.
Can you back up and permanently delete all WhatsApp chats?
One way to permanently erase your entire WhatsApp chat history is to:
- Create a backup of important chats you want to keep (iPhone: iCloud backup; Android: Google Drive backup)
- Delete WhatsApp and any files related to it from your phone storage
- Perform a factory reset on your phone to wipe the app data
- Reinstall WhatsApp and restore only the necessary chats from backup
This will completely wipe all previous WhatsApp data from your device and online backup, letting you start fresh. However, you will lose any chats that weren’t part of your backup.
Can you delete WhatsApp chat backups?
WhatsApp stores chat backups on iCloud for iPhones and Google Drive for Android phones. Even if you delete chats on your phone, they may still be preserved in these online backups.
To permanently erase chat backups:
- iPhone: Go to iPhone Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups > Select WhatsApp backup > Delete
- Android: Open Google Drive > WhatsApp > Select backup to delete
However, new backups may be created periodically unless you turn off backup in WhatsApp settings. So disabling backups is better for ensuring chats aren’t stored.
Can you delete WhatsApp account to erase chat history?
Deleting your WhatsApp account will erase your chat history and account info from WhatsApp servers. To delete your account:
- Open WhatsApp Settings > Account > Delete My Account
- Select a reason for deleting your account
- Tap Delete Account and confirm
However, there are a few things to note:
- Backups on iCloud/Google Drive will still exist unless manually deleted
- Other WhatsApp users may still have parts of your chat history you shared with them
- There is a 30 day period before your account is permanently deleted, in case you change your mind
So while deleting your account will eventually erase server chat history, any local backups will need to be manually cleared as well.
Can you retrieve and restore permanently deleted WhatsApp chats?
If chats were deleted from WhatsApp less than 30 days ago, you may be able to restore them using a third party app like Fonelab, Dr.Fone, iMyFone, or EaseUS MobiSaver.
These tools scan your phone memory and online backups to recover deleted data. However, the success rate depends on:
- How long ago chats were deleted
- Whether backups exist
- If any new data has overwritten chat files
After 30 days, permanent deletions are almost impossible to recover. So if you do regret deleting chats, try to restore them as soon as possible.
Conclusion
While WhatsApp doesn’t have a native feature to permanently mass delete chats, there are some workarounds:
- Manually deleting each chat
- Using third party apps to delete in bulk
- Wiping chat data and backups by factory resetting phone
- Disabling chat backups
- Deleting your WhatsApp account
However, traces of your chat history may still remain in other users’ chats or local device files. There is no definitive way to guarantee complete removal of WhatsApp chat history.
The auto-delete setting helps clean up old chats automatically, but doesn’t permanently erase them. Ultimately, the only way to have full control over erasing chats is to be selective about which conversations you have and back up in the first place.