WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion active users worldwide. It offers end-to-end encryption for messages and calls, allowing you to communicate securely and privately. However, you may sometimes want to block a contact if they are sending unwanted or spam messages.
When you block a contact, you won’t receive any calls or messages from them. Their messages will not show up in your inbox or notifications. So a common question many WhatsApp users have is – can you still see messages received from blocked contacts?
In this detailed guide, we will cover:
Can You See Messages from Blocked Contacts on WhatsApp?
The short answer is no, you cannot directly see messages received from blocked contacts on WhatsApp once you have blocked them. This is by design to prevent harassment and spam.
However, there are a couple of workarounds that may allow you to view messages from blocked numbers on WhatsApp in some cases:
- If you have notifications enabled, you may see a preview of the message from the blocked contact in your notifications bar. But you won’t be able to open or view the full message.
- If the blocked contact sends you a message when you don’t have an active internet connection, the message may get stored on your device temporarily. Once you reconnect to the internet, it will get deleted from your device and not show up in your inbox.
- If you have a dual SIM phone, you can insert your primary SIM in another phone and may be able to see the messages received from the blocked contact on your primary number.
But there is no direct way to retrieve or view deleted messages from blocked contacts within WhatsApp itself once blocked. The messages do not get stored locally or on WhatsApp’s servers.
Why You Can’t See Messages from Blocked Contacts
There are a few reasons why WhatsApp does not allow you to view messages from blocked contacts:
- Privacy – Blocking someone implies you no longer wish to communicate with them or receive messages from them.
- Prevent harassment – By not allowing blocked contacts’ messages to appear, it prevents harassment or bullying.
- Reduce spam – It avoids spammers from bombarding you with unwanted messages.
- End-to-end encryption – Messages are encrypted and inaccessible once blocking occurs.
WhatsApp provides the block feature for these exact reasons. So it is designed in a way that once blocked, all communication from that contact is cut off both ways.
How Does Blocking Work in WhatsApp?
When you block someone on WhatsApp, here is exactly what happens:
- All messages and calls from the blocked contact will no longer reach you.
- Any messages or calls from them made after blocking will not show up in your notifications or WhatsApp inbox.
- Previous chat history and messages with the blocked contact will no longer be accessible.
- If you were part of any common WhatsApp groups, you will both remain participants in those groups.
- The blocked contact will not be notified that you have blocked them.
- On their end, your “Last Seen” status and any updates to your profile photo or “About” will no longer be visible to them.
- All messages sent by you to a blocked contact will still go through and be delivered.
So in essence, blocking only restricts communication one way – from the blocked contact to you. You can still send messages to blocked contacts, but any replies or messages initiated by them will not get through.
How to Block a Contact on WhatsApp
Blocking a contact on WhatsApp is easy and can be done in a few steps on both Android and iOS devices:
On Android:
- Open the WhatsApp app and go to your Chats tab.
- Tap and hold the chat window of the contact you want to block.
- Tap More > Block contact.
- Confirm the block by tapping Block in the popup dialog.
On iPhone:
- Open WhatsApp and go to the Chats tab.
- Swipe left on the chat window of the contact you want to block.
- Tap More at the bottom.
- Tap Block Contact to confirm.
And that’s it! The contact will be blocked from sending you any new messages.
How to Unblock a Contact on WhatsApp
If you change your mind later on, you can easily unblock a contact by following these steps:
On Android:
- Open WhatsApp and go to Settings.
- Tap Account > Privacy > Blocked contacts.
- Tap the Unblock icon next to the contact you want to unblock.
On iPhone:
- Go to WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy > Blocked.
- Tap Unblock next to the contact you want to unblock.
This will remove the blocking and allow normal communication again with that contact.
How to Delete Messages from Blocked Contacts
As mentioned earlier, you cannot directly view past or new messages from blocked contacts within WhatsApp. But in some cases, the messages may still temporarily be present on your phone’s local storage before being auto-deleted.
Here are the steps to delete such messages from blocked contacts on your device storage:
On Android:
- Go to your phone’s File Manager app.
- Navigate to the WhatsApp folder.
- Open the Databases folder.
- Locate the msgstore.db.crypt14 file and delete it.
- Restart your phone – this will delete all locally stored WhatsApp data including messages from blocked contacts.
On iPhone:
- Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
- Tap on WhatsApp.
- Tap on Edit in the top right corner.
- Tap on Delete App and then reinstall WhatsApp – this will wipe all local WhatsApp data.
Do note that in addition to messages from blocked contacts, this will delete all of your WhatsApp data. So ensure you have backups enabled in WhatsApp’s settings beforehand.
Third-Party Apps to View Deleted WhatsApp Messages
While WhatsApp itself does not allow you to retrieve deleted messages from blocked contacts, there are some third-party apps that may help:
- WAMR – Android app that can recover deleted WhatsApp messages from internal storage or SD card backup.
- iMyFone D-Back – iOS data recovery tool that can restore lost WhatsApp data including messages.
- FonePaw Android Data Recovery – Scans your device storage to find and restore deleted WhatsApp messages and media.
However, success is not guaranteed as WhatsApp employs end-to-end encryption. Use these apps at your own risk and ensure you have device backups.
Enable WhatsApp Cloud Backup
To avoid losing your WhatsApp chat history and data when deleting messages or reinstalling the app, make sure you have WhatsApp cloud backups enabled:
On Android:
- Open WhatsApp > Tap More options > Settings.
- Go to Chats > Chat backup.
- Turn on Back up to Google Drive and set a backup frequency.
On iPhone:
- Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Backup.
- Tap Back Up Now to manually backup your chats.
- Enable auto-backup by tapping Auto Backup.
This will securely backup your WhatsApp data including messages, media, and contacts to the cloud. If you ever need to restore your data, you can retrieve it from the cloud backup.
Use WhatsApp Web to View Messages
An alternative option is to use WhatsApp Web to view your chats on your computer’s browser. Here is how it works:
- Open web.whatsapp.com on your computer browser.
- On your phone, open WhatsApp and tap More Options > WhatsApp Web.
- Scan the QR code displayed on the browser using your phone to link it.
- You can now view all your chats and messages on the computer.
The advantage of WhatsApp Web is it gives you a bigger screen to easily scroll back and view your older conversations. However, any messages from blocked contacts still won’t show up here.
Use a Dual SIM Phone
If you have a dual SIM phone, you can insert your primary WhatsApp SIM card into another phone temporarily. This will allow you to view all the messages and conversations on that second phone, including any new messages sent by blocked contacts to your primary number.
Just remember to move your SIM card back into your primary phone afterwards so that you can continue receiving messages as normal.
Retrieve From Google Drive or iCloud Backup
As mentioned above, WhatsApp backups your data to Google Drive or iCloud depending on your device. You may be able to retrieve older messages from blocked contacts from these cloud backups:
- Android – Download your Google Drive backup, extract the msgstore.db.crypt14 file and open it with SQLite editor apps.
- iPhone – View iCloud backups in Finder app, extract and open chat databases with a SQLite reader.
However, this method involves multiple complex steps and may not always work reliably due to encryption.
Use a WhatsApp Reader App
There are specialized apps known as WhatsApp readers that can open local WhatsApp database files and display your chats:
- Android options like WatzappM, WAMR, WhatsApp Reader can read msgstore.db.crypt14 database.
- For iOS, iMyFone D-Port and imobie PhoneRescue can read and open chat databases from iTunes or iCloud backups.
While these may recover old messages from blocked contacts, they typically require root access which can be risky.
Contact WhatsApp Support to Restore Data
In some exceptional cases, you may be able to convince WhatsApp support to manually restore your chat history including messages from blocked contacts. However, success is not guaranteed.
To do this:
- Email [email protected] explaining your situation and requirement.
- Provide your phone number linked to your WhatsApp account.
- Clearly mention you need them to restore chat history from blocked contacts.
- Politely ask if they can help restore chats from a recent iCloud or Google Drive backup.
- Hope to get lucky with a helpful customer support rep who may agree to manually restore it!
Realistically, chances of WhatsApp support agreeing to do this are slim, but may be worth a shot in desperate situations.
Use a WhatsApp Monitoring App
A WhatsApp monitoring or spying app can silently record all WhatsApp messages on a device. Some examples include mSpy, FlexiSPY, uMobix and Spyic. However, legally speaking, using such apps to monitor other people’s chats without consent raises privacy concerns.
Make sure you are not violating any laws and have permission before monitoring someone’s WhatsApp chats. WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption also limits how much of the content can be visible via such apps.
Retrieve From Google or Apple Account Backups
Some part of your WhatsApp chat history may get backed up to your Google or Apple account. You can try retrieving it from there:
- Android – Download your Google account data and look for WhatsApp folder.
- iPhone – Request Apple for your account data, old backups may have WhatsApp messages.
However, the WhatsApp data recovered is often partial or fragmented due to encryption limitations.
Use Forensic Data Recovery Tools
As a last resort, you can try using advanced forensic data recovery tools like Oxygen Forensics and Wondershare Dr.Fone to pull deleted WhatsApp messages from a phone’s internal storage.
But this requires technical expertise and may not work reliably for encrypted apps like WhatsApp.
Conclusion
To summarize, there is no direct way to view messages from blocked contacts within WhatsApp itself. Due to its encryption and privacy focused design, your only options are to unblock the contact or try other indirect methods like third-party apps. Each approach has varying levels of complexity, risks and ethical concerns.
Ideally, avoid anything illegal or unethical. Your best options are to backup your data, use WhatsApp Web, try customer support or see if the messages got saved in your cloud backups from Google or Apple. With end-to-end encryption and privacy becoming paramount, apps like WhatsApp give users control by allowing them to block contacts permanently.