Windows has accustomed us to the Recycle Bin as a place where recover what we deleted by mistake or what we regret deleting. On Android, there is still no universal trash can, but many apps have a trash function. WhatsApp is not one of them.
What you delete on WhatsApp is normally deleted forever after a few seconds of grace, although all is not lost. It is possible to recover deleted WhatsApp chats from the backup and, in the best case, you may not even have deleted the chat but archived it.
If you have archived WhatsApp chat
Let’s start with the best case scenario: that you didn’t delete the chat, but that you filed it. When you archive a chat it disappears from the chat list but is not deleted, it is just hidden in a folder called Archive
Archiving WhatsApp chats is useful for saving chats that no longer interest us but without completely deleting them, being able to reread them at any time, but without them taking up space in the chat list. Archiving a discussion is done by pressing the key box button with a down arrowwhich is displayed in the top bar of WhatsApp after selecting one or more chats. It is not possible to archive a chat from the chat itself.
You may have archived a chat instead of deleting it completely
If you archived one or more chats by mistake, you may think they have been deleted forever, when in reality They are simply hidden in a separate folder to eliminate them.
How to recover “deleted” messages from “Archived”
If you have archived one or more WhatsApp chats, voluntarily or by mistake, you will be able to easily recover in a very simple and fast way. Here are the steps you need to follow:
- Open WhatsApp and enter the tab Discussions .
- At the top of your chats list, tap Archive.
- Long press on the chat you want to recover to select it (you can select more than one at once).
- Press the button on the box with an up arrow.
- Chats will return to the general WhatsApp chats list.
If you really deleted the chat
If you deleted the real chats, by pressing the trash can button from the top button panel (or the empty menu, from the chat itself), your options for recovering what you just deleted are more limited, but all is not lost.
What you delete on WhatsApp is deleted forever, but the best is to try to recover deleted chat from WhatsApp backup. Ideally from Google Drive, otherwise you can always try a slightly more complicated method.
How to Recover Deleted Messages from Backup
The key to recover deleted chats with WhatsApp backup is that they are in said copy. So we have to hurry if a new backup is made After deleting a chat, this backup will no longer contain the chat. WhatsApp overwrites the most recent backup with the previous version: there is no possibility to recover an older version from Google Drive.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the copy will also not have messages arrived since backup. That is, if the backup was made yesterday at 5 a.m., all of today’s messages are not in that copy and will be lost when you restore it. Taking all this into account, the process to restore a WhatsApp backup is as follows:
- Uninstall WhatsApp and reinstall it (or delete its data, if you prefer).
- Set up WhatsApp as usual, with your phone number and verification code.
- WhatsApp will notify you that it has found a backup. Press Restore.
- Wait for the process to complete.
Cover image | Generated with AI
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