WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the key features of WhatsApp is the ability to archive chats that you don’t need cluttering up your main chat screen. Archiving a chat moves it out of your primary chat list and into a separate Archived Chats section, helping you stay organized and focused on your most important and recent conversations.
If you use WhatsApp on an iPhone and want to view your archived chats or recover an old conversation that you previously archived, the process is quick and easy. In this guide, we’ll walk you through exactly how to find and access your archived WhatsApp chats on an iPhone.
How Archived Chats Work on WhatsApp
Before we dive into the steps to find your archived chats, it helps to understand exactly what archiving a chat does in WhatsApp:
– Archiving a chat removes it from your main Chats tab in WhatsApp and moves it to the Archived Chats section. This helps declutter your workspace and focuses your view on active conversations.
– Archived chats will remain archived if you uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp. They do not get deleted.
– You can still search for archived chats using the search bar in WhatsApp. They just won’t show up in your main chat list.
– If someone sends a new message to an archived chat, it will unarchive itself and move back to the main Chats tab. This helps prevent you from missing important new messages.
– You can manually unarchive a chat at any time to move it back to the main Chats screen.
– Archiving is not the same as deleting. Archived chats remain saved on your phone and can easily be retrieved.
Now that we’ve covered the basics of how archiving works, let’s look at how to find and view your archived WhatsApp chats on an iPhone.
View Archived Chats in WhatsApp for iPhone
Viewing your archived WhatsApp chats is easy on iOS devices. Here are the steps:
1. Open the WhatsApp app on your iPhone.
2. At the bottom right of the Chats tab screen, tap “Archived”.
3. This will open your Archived Chats list. All your archived conversations will be listed here.
4. Tap on any archived chat to open it and view the messages. The chat will remain archived.
5. To unarchive a chat, swipe left on it and tap “Unarchive”. This moves it back to your main Chats screen.
6. When you’re finished viewing your archived chats, tap “Back” to return to your regular Chats tab.
The Archived Chats section acts like a separate inbox that stores all your archived conversations in one place. You can access it, read messages, and unarchive chats anytime without affecting the chats in your main chat list.
How to Search Archived Chats
You can also search for a specific archived chat if you don’t see it listed in your Archived Chats section. Here’s how:
1. Tap on the Search bar at the top of the Chats tab in WhatsApp.
2. Type in the name or number of the contact whose archived chat you want to find.
3. In the search results, look for “Archived Chats” as one of the categories.
4. You will see the archived chat listed there and can tap to open it.
Even if a chat is archived, you can still find it easily using WhatsApp’s search feature. The chat remains saved on your iPhone until you manually delete it.
Archiving vs. Deleting Chats
Archiving and deleting conversations work differently in WhatsApp:
– Archiving removes a chat from your primary inbox but stores it in your Archived Chats. The chat remains saved on your phone.
– Deleting a chat permanently erases the conversation and its messages. You will no longer find it in WhatsApp.
So archiving is a way to organize and tuck away old chats you don’t need regular access to, while still keeping them saved should you ever need to refer back to the messages. Deleting chats outright erases them forever.
How to Delete Archived Chats
If you no longer need a particular archived chat and want to delete it fully from WhatsApp, here are the steps:
1. Go to your Archived Chats section in WhatsApp.
2. Swipe left across the chat you want to delete. This will reveal the Delete button.
3. Tap Delete to permanently remove the chat and all its messages from WhatsApp.
4. Tap Delete again in the confirmation prompt to confirm you want to erase the chat.
Be cautious when deleting archived chats, as there is no way to later retrieve the messages once they are erased from WhatsApp. But deleting chats can be useful for permanently removing old conversations you no longer need clogging up your phone’s storage.
Troubleshooting Archived Chats
If you’re having trouble viewing your archived WhatsApp chats on your iPhone, here are some troubleshooting tips:
– Update to the latest version of WhatsApp from the App Store. Older versions may have issues displaying archived chats.
– Force quit and relaunch WhatsApp if archived chats aren’t loading properly. This clears out any glitches.
– Check your internet connection. A weak or unstable connection can disrupt access to archived chats.
– Reboot your iPhone if force quitting WhatsApp does not resolve archived chat issues.
– Clear cached data and cookies for WhatsApp by going to Settings > WhatsApp > Storage & Data > Clear Data.
– As a last resort, uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp. Your archived chats are stored remotely and will sync again when you reinstall and login.
– Contact WhatsApp support if no troubleshooting suggestions work.
Following these tips should help get your archived WhatsApp chats displaying properly again on your iPhone if you experience any problems accessing them.
Conclusion
Archiving chats is a great way to organize your WhatsApp conversations on an iPhone and tuck away old or unimportant threads while keeping them saved for future reference if needed. Whenever you need to access your archived messages, just tap into the Archived Chats section. You can view, search, unarchive or delete archived chats anytime.
Keeping old conversations archived instead of deleting them can provide useful records of past communication with friends, family, colleagues and clients. But archived chats also won’t clutter up your main chat interface, allowing you to stay focused on active discussions.
Understanding how to find and manage archived WhatsApp chats on your iPhone is simple once you know how to access the Archived Chats section. Follow the steps outlined in this guide and you’ll be able to view your full message history, recover old chats you want to resurrect, and keep your WhatsApp experience on iOS organized.
| OS | Steps to Access Archived Chats |
|---|---|
| iPhone |
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| Android |
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