WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps with over 2 billion monthly active users. It allows us to stay connected with friends and family through text messages, voice calls, video calls, media sharing, and more. However, there can be times when we may accidentally delete an important chat or media on WhatsApp that we wanted to keep.
The good news is that it is possible to recover deleted WhatsApp chats on Android phones. In this detailed guide, we will discuss the different methods you can use to restore your deleted WhatsApp chats on Android.
How does WhatsApp delete chats?
Before looking at how to restore deleted chats, it’s important to understand how WhatsApp deletes chats and media in the first place. When you delete a chat or media on WhatsApp, it does not immediately get erased from your phone’s storage. Instead, it gets marked for deletion and hidden from the app’s interface. The deleted data stays in your phone’s storage for about 30 days before being permanently deleted by WhatsApp.
So you have a window of approximately 30 days to recover deleted WhatsApp data on Android before it is gone forever. This is why it’s crucial to act quickly if you want to restore accidentally deleted chats or media.
Method 1: Restore from Google Drive Backup
The easiest way to recover deleted WhatsApp chats on Android is to restore them from Google Drive backup. WhatsApp takes daily backups of your chats and media on Google Drive. As long as the backup is recent enough, you can use it to restore deleted conversations.
Follow these steps to restore deleted WhatsApp chats from Google Drive backup:
- First, uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp on your Android phone.
- When you set up WhatsApp again, it will prompt you to restore chats and media from Google Drive backup. Tap on the option to Restore.
- WhatsApp will now overwrite your existing data and restore everything from the Google Drive backup, including any deleted chats and media.
The caveat here is that this method will only work if WhatsApp was able to take a backup before you deleted the chats. If your backup is old, the deleted conversations would not be included in it.
Method 2: Use WhatsApp Chat History Extractor Apps
If you don’t have a recent enough Google Drive backup, your best bet is to use a third-party Android app that can extract WhatsApp chat history from your phone’s storage. Here are some good options:
- Dr.Fone – WhatsApp Recovery: This is one of the most popular apps to recover deleted WhatsApp chats on Android. It scans your phone’s storage to extract deleted WhatsApp data.
- iMyFone D-Back: Another good app that can recover deleted WhatsApp messages, chats, media, and attachments.
- FoneDog Toolkit- Android Data Recovery: Retrieves deleted WhatsApp messages and attachments from Android storage.
The process of using these WhatsApp chat recovery apps is simple:
- Download and install the app on your Android phone.
- Grant the app the required permissions.
- Select WhatsApp chat history as the data type to scan.
- The app will extract all deleted WhatsApp chats and media from your phone’s storage.
- You can preview and select the chats you want to recover.
- Finally, recover the deleted WhatsApp chats and media to your phone.
These apps provide an easy way to recover deleted WhatsApp conversations from your Android phone’s internal storage or SD card. Just make sure to use a reliable app and follow the steps carefully.
Method 3: Extract WhatsApp DB File
WhatsApp stores your chat history in an encrypted database file on your phone’s storage. This DB file contains all your chats, even the deleted ones until they are permanently erased by WhatsApp.
You can manually find and extract this WhatsApp DB file from your phone’s storage to view deleted conversations. Here’s how:
- Install an Android file explorer or file manager app on your phone. ES File Explorer is a good option.
- Open the file manager and go to the WhatsApp folder.
- The path is usually: Internal Storage > Android > media > com.whatsapp > Databases.
- Here you will find several files with .db extension. These are your chat databases.
- Copy the most recent .db.crypt12 file to your computer.
- You can now decrypt this file using a tool like Crypt12 or WhatsApp Viewer to view and restore deleted chats.
While this method is a bit more complex, it gives you full access to extract the deleted WhatsApp data. Just make sure to use the proper decryption tools to view the DB file content.
Tips to Avoid Deleted WhatsApp Chats in Future
Following these simple tips will help you prevent accidental deletion of important WhatsApp chats:
- Enable auto backup in WhatsApp settings to regularly backup chats to Google Drive.
- Be careful while deleting chats and media in WhatsApp.
- Avoid clearing WhatsApp cache and data as it deletes chats.
- Make manual backups of important chats on your computer.
- Install a reliable chat recovery app so you can easily restore chats if deleted.
Conclusion
Restoring accidentally deleted WhatsApp chats is possible with the right tools and techniques. Ideally, you should restore from a recent Google Drive backup. If not, use a reliable third party Android app to extract deleted WhatsApp data from your phone’s storage before it’s permanently erased. Avoid future deletions by being careful and taking regular backups.