Seeing someone’s hidden profile picture on WhatsApp can be tricky, as the app doesn’t make it easy to access profile photos that a user has set to private. However, there are a few methods you can try to get a sneak preview of a contact’s hidden profile picture.
Using WhatsApp Web
One of the easiest ways to see a hidden WhatsApp profile photo is by using WhatsApp Web. Here’s how:
- Open WhatsApp on your computer and log in using QR code scanning from your phone’s WhatsApp app.
- Once logged in, you can see your full contacts list on the left side bar.
- Click on the contact whose hidden profile picture you want to see.
- Right click on the blank space where the profile photo should be.
- Select ‘Inspect’ or ‘Inspect Element’ (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+C).
- This will open the HTML code behind the WhatsApp Web page.
- Look for the line containing the image link ending with ‘.jpg’. This link will take you to the hidden profile photo.
- Copy and paste this image link into a new browser tab to view the full-size profile picture.
This method works because WhatsApp Web has access to profile pictures that standard WhatsApp does not. However, it only reveals the last profile photo the person set, not all previous hidden ones.
Using Third-Party Apps
There are a few third party apps that can retrieve hidden and deleted WhatsApp profile photos from your device’s internal storage and cache. Here are some examples:
- WAMR – WhatsApp Media Recovery app that can restore deleted and hidden media.
- WhatsRemoved – Recovers deleted and hidden WhatsApp media like photos.
- Notification History – View notifications you’ve received, including profile photo changes.
To use these apps to view hidden profile photos:
- Download and install the app on your Android or iOS device.
- Grant the app the required access permissions.
- Open the app and scan your device’s storage.
- If any hidden or deleted profile photos are found, they will be displayed in the app’s interface.
- You can then view, save or share the recovered profile pictures.
However, this method depends on the app being able to recover photos from your device’s storage, which is not always possible.
Checking Notification Log
If someone has recently changed their profile picture to hide it, you may be able to view the old one in your phone’s notification log:
- Open your phone’s Settings app.
- Go to Apps & Notifications > Notifications.
- Tap ‘Notification History’ or ‘View Notification Log’.
- Scroll through your notification history to find the WhatsApp profile change notification.
- Tap the notification to open the old profile picture they had set.
This method only works for recent profile picture changes before they were hidden. The notification log only stores a limited history.
Using Google Photos (Android only)
If you have an Android phone and use Google Photos for backups, you may find hidden and deleted WhatsApp media gets backed up there:
- Open the Google Photos app.
- Go to Library > Device Folders.
- Open the ‘WhatsApp Images’ and ‘WhatsApp Video’ folders.
- Scroll through to see if any hidden profile photos were backed up.
However, this method depends on Google Photos backup being enabled and can only restore photos previously visible to you in WhatsApp.
Using Local Data Backup
You may be able to find hidden and deleted profile photos in your local WhatsApp data backup:
- Locate your WhatsApp backups folder, usually WhatsApp/Databases in phone storage.
- Copy the most recent .crypt12 backup file to your computer.
- Use a third party decryption tool to convert the backup to a readable database format.
- Open the decrypted database and search for media files ending in .jpg or .png.
- Save any hidden profile photos you find to your computer.
This method is complex but can restore old profile photos. However, it requires technical expertise to decrypt and search the backup database file.
Using WhatsApp Plus (Unsupported Mod)
Third-party mods like WhatsApp Plus offer extra features to view hidden profile photos of your contacts. However, these mods are not officially supported by WhatsApp and violate their terms of service.
Conclusion
While WhatsApp has measures in place to protect hidden profile pictures, there are ways to uncover them if you’re persistent. Trying methods like WhatsApp Web, notification history, and third-party apps can reveal changes made by your contacts. However, keep ethics in mind before accessing media someone wanted to hide or delete.