WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. It allows us to stay connected with friends and family through text, audio and video calls, and media sharing.
However, there can be times when we accidentally delete important chats or media on WhatsApp that we wish we could get back. If you don’t have a recent backup, is it still possible to recover deleted WhatsApp messages?
Can I recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup?
The short answer is – yes, it is possible to retrieve deleted WhatsApp messages without backup under certain conditions. While WhatsApp does not have a built-in feature to restore deleted messages, there are third party apps and methods you can use to extract WhatsApp data from your phone.
Requirements for WhatsApp message recovery without backup
- You should not have overwritten the deleted WhatsApp data by continuing to use the app intensively. The more you use WhatsApp, the more likely the deleted data will get overwritten.
- Your phone should not have been factory reset after the deletion incident. A factory reset erases all data on the device.
- Your device was not rooted or modded in any way.
- You need to avoid syncing your WhatsApp account immediately to another device.
As long as the above conditions are met, there is a good chance your deleted WhatsApp data still resides on your phone’s internal storage and can be retrieved.
Methods to recover deleted WhatsApp messages without backup
Here are some of the most effective ways to get back lost or deleted WhatsApp messages without backup:
1. Using WhatsApp Message Recovery Apps
There are specialized WhatsApp recovery apps that can extract deleted WhatsApp data from your phone and restore it. Some popular and reputed apps include:
- Dr.Fone – WhatsApp Recovery
- FonePaw Android Data Recovery
- Jihosoft WhatsApp Recovery
These apps perform deep scanning of your phone’s storage to search for WhatsApp data remnants and recover as much as possible. The process involves:
- Download and install the recovery app on a computer.
- Enable USB debugging mode on your Android phone.
- Connect the phone to the computer.
- Allow the app to scan the phone data.
- Preview and select the WhatsApp messages and attachments to recover.
- Save the recovered data to your computer.
The success rate is quite high if the deleted content was not overwritten by new data. You can get back entire conversations, contacts, videos, images, audio files, documents etc.
2. Extract WhatsApp from Phone Backup
Even if you don’t have an active WhatsApp backup, your phone may still have auto backups saved locally or on cloud storage. You can manually locate these backups and extract just the WhatsApp data from them.
On Android phones, Google Drive backup often contains WhatsApp messages. You can download the backup to your computer, unzip it, and search for the WhatsApp folder. On iPhone, connect the device to iTunes and check for archived backups that include WhatsApp database files.
3. Retrieve from Google Drive or iCloud
If you had enabled chat backups on Google Drive or iCloud storage in the past, you may still be able to recover older WhatsApp backups from there even if you have no recent backups.
On Android, open the Google Drive app and search for WhatsApp under Backup. On iPhone, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups to find archived WhatsApp backups.
You can also log in to Google Drive or iCloud through a computer to find these archived backups and download WhatsApp data from them.
4. Extract WhatsApp from iTunes or iCloud Backup
For iPhone users, connecting your device to iTunes and restoring from an older backup can bring back deleted WhatsApp messages. You can also retrieve WhatsApp data from iCloud backups without erasing your device.
There are dedicated tools like iMyFone D-Back and EaseUS MobiSaver that can selectively scan iTunes or iCloud backups and extract only your WhatsApp information from them.
5. Use WhatsApp Web to View Deleted Messages
This method only works if you had previously paired WhatsApp Web with your phone:
- Go to web.whatsapp.com and log in using QR code scan.
- Check if you can still see the deleted chats here.
- If yes, copy, export or take screenshots of the chats you need.
Even though the messages were deleted on your phone, they may continue to be available on the web app for a while until it syncs the deletions.
Tips to avoid WhatsApp message loss
To avoid the hassle of recovering deleted data, here are some handy tips:
- Enable auto backup in WhatsApp settings to backup chats to Google Drive or iCloud regularly.
- Manually create WhatsApp backups on phone storage or cloud storage periodically.
- Avoid clearing all WhatsApp data from Phone Settings, as it cannot be undone.
- Enable Chat History in WhatsApp’s Privacy settings to retain chat history if you uninstall and reinstall.
- Be careful with bulk select & delete – use search to find and delete specific items instead.
Conclusion
While WhatsApp itself does not provide deleted message recovery capabilities, there are several reliable methods you can use to get back lost or deleted WhatsApp data:
- Specialized WhatsApp recovery apps to extract data from phone storage
- Retrieving local or cloud phone backups containing WhatsApp info
- Using WhatsApp Web to view deleted chats
The key is avoiding overwriting the deleted data by minimizing WhatsApp usage after deletion, until you have recovered the messages you need. Having regular backups enabled is the best way to avoid ever needing to use recovery tools.