WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging platforms in the world, with over 2 billion users. One of the key features of WhatsApp is the ability to have private conversations and share media with your contacts. However, sometimes you may want to delete a chat conversation from both sides.
Can you delete a WhatsApp chat for both parties?
The short answer is no, it is not possible to delete a WhatsApp chat from both sides. When you delete a chat, it will only remove the messages from your side of the conversation. The messages will still be visible in the chat history for the other person.
Here is a more detailed explanation of how WhatsApp chat deletion works:
- When you delete a chat, the messages are removed from your phone’s storage and WhatsApp servers.
- However, the messages still exist on the other person’s device and WhatsApp servers.
- So if you delete a chat, your contact will still be able to see the conversation on their end.
- There is no built-in WhatsApp feature that lets you remove messages from both sides of a chat.
This is an intentional design decision by WhatsApp to prevent abuse. If anyone could delete conversations from other people’s chats without their knowledge, it could be misused to remove evidence or important information.
Why can’t you delete WhatsApp chats from both sides?
Here are some key reasons why WhatsApp does not allow deleting chats from both sides:
- Privacy – WhatsApp prioritizes privacy and security of user data. Allowing a user to delete messages from someone else’s device would be a violation of privacy.
- Prevent misuse – The feature could be misused to remove evidence, important information, cyberbullying messages, etc from the recipient’s phone.
- Technical limitations – It is difficult to implement this for end-to-end encrypted chats. The messages exist independently on each user’s device after they are delivered.
- Legal concerns – In some cases, chat history may need to be retrieved for legal/investigation purposes. Deleting them from both sides could prevent authorities from obtaining required information.
Is there any way to delete WhatsApp chats from both sides?
Since WhatsApp does not have a built-in feature for this, the only option is to manually delete the chat from the other person’s device. However, this is only possible when you have physical access to that device.
Here are a couple of methods you could use, if you have access to the recipient’s phone:
- Open WhatsApp on their phone, go to the chat you want to delete and erase the messages or the entire chat.
- If you want to delete the chat history from their iCloud or Google Drive backup as well, you would need access to their cloud storage account to remove it.
However, this would require consent from the other person. Deleting chat history from someone else’s device or cloud storage without their permission raises ethical and legal issues.
What happens when you delete a WhatsApp chat?
Here is an overview of what happens when you delete a chat from your WhatsApp account:
- The chat is removed from your phone’s WhatsApp database and marked for deletion on WhatsApp servers.
- Media files (photos, videos, documents) exchanged in that chat are deleted from your phone’s storage.
- Your chat history is deleted from iCloud/Google Drive backup the next time your phone takes a backup.
- Deleted chats may still be retained by WhatsApp for a short time before permanent deletion from servers.
- The chat and messages remain visible to the recipient. Their chat history is unaffected.
So in essence, deleting a WhatsApp chat only removes it from your side of the conversation. It does not affect the recipient’s chat history or messages in any way.
Can you recover deleted WhatsApp chats?
Yes, it is possible to recover deleted WhatsApp chats in some cases. Here are the options:
- Restore from Google Drive or iCloud backup – Deleted chats may still be present in your cloud backup for up to 40 days.
- Use data recovery software – Scan your phone’s storage with data recovery apps to extract deleted WhatsApp data.
- Retrieve from recipient’s phone – The chat exists on their device, so you can view messages by accessing their phone.
However, if the chat has been permanently deleted from your phone, cloud storage, and the recipient’s phone, then it may be impossible to recover.
Does deleting WhatsApp chats free up space?
Yes, deleting WhatsApp chats can help free up storage space on your phone. Here’s how:
- The chat databases are deleted, freeing up space in phone storage.
- Any media files (photos, videos) exchanged in chats are removed.
- Over time, even chat backups on Google Drive or iCloud are deleted.
According to WhatsApp, deleting old chats, media and messages can significantly reduce the app storage usage on your phone. The impact is especially noticeable when large files like photos and videos have been exchanged.
How much space do WhatsApp chats take up?
The amount of storage space used by WhatsApp depends on factors like:
- Number of chats and how long you’ve used WhatsApp
- Frequency of messaging
- Number of media files exchanged
- Frequency of backups to cloud storage
On average, WhatsApp takes up 400-600 MB of iPhone storage and about 1-2 GB on many Android phones. This will keep increasing over time as you use WhatsApp more, take backups etc.
Chat sizes on different phones
| Phone | WhatsApp Size |
|---|---|
| iPhone 6 | 0.5 GB |
| OnePlus 5 | 1.5 GB |
| Samsung Galaxy S9 | 1 GB |
As you can see from the above table, Android phones tend to store more WhatsApp data than iPhones for the same usage patterns.
Tips to free up space by deleting WhatsApp data
Follow these tips to delete WhatsApp data and free up space on your phone:
- Delete large media files – Photos, videos and documents take up the most space. Delete files you don’t need.
- Delete old chats – Get rid of chats you no longer use regularly or need.
- Turn off backups – Temporarily disable chat backups to stop backups after deleting chats.
- Use cleaner apps – Use phone cleaner or file manager apps to find and delete large WhatsApp files.
- Uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp – This wipes all data and gives you a fresh install.
Conclusion
While WhatsApp does not allow deleting chats from both sides, you can still free up space by removing old chats and media from your phone storage and cloud backup. Make sure to turn off auto-backups to prevent deleted data from reappearing. Also be mindful of privacy and consent before attempting to delete chats from someone else’s device.