WhatsApp: Recover deleted chats - this is how it works

If you have deleted individual messages or complete chats from WhatsApp, you can usually recover them. All you need for this is a backup of your chat history. You can find out how to create one and everything you need to know about the procedure for restoring the chats here.

Deleted WhatsApp chats: How to restore via backup

If you have accidentally deleted one of your chats from WhatsApp, this is no reason to panic. Since WhatsApp automatically backs up all your messages, photos and videos every night, you have the option to restore deleted chats.

1. To restore your deleted chats, first uninstall WhatsApp from your Android smartphone or iPhone.
2. Then open the Google Play Store or the App Store of the device and download WhatsApp again.
3. Now start WhatsApp, verify your number and select within the setup that WhatsApp should be restored from a backup.

Restore deleted WhatsApp chats: Other options

Since a new backup is created every day, using the method described above is not applicable to restore older chats. However, if you have an Android device, you can still restore these older chats for up to seven days using the file manager of your smartphone.

1. To do this, please open the file manager and navigate to the file "msgstore.db.crypt" in the directory "local/WhatsApp/Databases" to rename it.
2. After that, uninstall WhatsApp and search for the backup file containing the deleted chats in File Manager.
3. After giving the file the name "msgstore.db.crypt", reinstall WhatsApp and set up the app using the backup.