If you accidentally deleted WhatsApp chat history, messages and attachments on Android phones, like Samsung galaxy phones, LG phones, HTC, Lenovo, Motorola, you can get them back. In this article, we will show you different ways to recover deleted WhatsApp data. We will introduce how to get back your recover deleted WhatsApp messages or chat history with the chat app, we will also recommend a more powerful Android data recovery which is easy to use and free to download.
- Method 1. How to recover WhatsApp Chat History from most recent backups?
- Method 2. How to recover WhatsApp Chat History from older (less recent) backups?
- Method 3. How to recover recent WhatsApp chat messages without losing newest chat history?
- Method 4. How to recover deleted WhatsApp Chat History without any backups?
#1. Recover WhatsApp Chat History from recent backups
If you have any backups of WhatsApp chat history, you will be able to recover chat history from your backups. If you deleted any Chat history or messages without backup, you can still recover lost messages, attachments from the WhatsApp automatic backups. It is because WhatsApp automatically makes backups every day at 4 AM (your local time) and stores them on your phone’s internal memory (only given that there is enough free space) or external microSD card of your Android phone. What you will need in order to recover WhatsApp messages is to uninstall the WhatsApp, then reinstall the chat app again. During the installation process, you will be prompted to restore your message history. Simply tap Restore and everything less than seven days old is restored.
#2. Recover WhatsApp Chat History from older (less recent) backups
You can follow below instructions to restore WhatsApp messages or chats from a backup:
- Uninstall WhatsApp.
- Open the WhatsApp database or backup folder. Decide which backup file you want to restore.
- Rename that file from “msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt7” to “msgstore.db.crypt7”.
- Install WhatsApp.
- When asked to restore, tap Restore.
You can find the WhatsApp backup files from /sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases folder, you will see that they are saved with names like “msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt7”. Note that WhatsApp backup folder may be located in either your phone’s internal memory or external memory.
What are the disadvantages of recovering WhatsApp chat messages from backups?
- The automatic backup files of your WhatsApp chat history and messages are only valid for 7 days after last saved. Make sure you import your chat history before it expires! You can’t find or restore data from backups that are more than 7 days old.
- You will lose the newest WhatsApp messages. Current chat history that has not been backed up yet will be lost upon restoration. That is to say you will lose all of the messages that you have sent and received since the backup was created.
- You can’t restore chat messages if your SD card and/or chat history is corrupted.
- You can’t restore chat history if you have a different phone number than when you backed up your chats.
- If you run a manual backup, it will overwrite the most recent automatic backup file.
#3. How to recover recent WhatsApp chat messages without losing newest chat history?
We know that new messages sent/received after a backup, and deleted before the next backup, cannot be restored. If you want to keep a copy of the newest WhatsApp messages, you can create a manual backup from
WhatsApp > Menu Button > Settings > Chat Settings > Backup conversations.
This manual backup file will normally be saved as “msgstore.db.crypt7” in your /sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases folder. Rename this chat backup file to something like “msgstore.db.crypt7.newest” or “msgstore.db.crypt7.current”.
There’s no simple way to merge your new message with your old, recovered messages though.
#4. Recover Deleted WhatsApp Chat Messages without any backups
If you just delete some very important chat messages without a backup, how can you get them backup? We recommend this Android data recovery which is easy to use and free to download. Here is how you can recover WhatsApp messages without backup with this Android data recovery.
- When you delete WhatsApp chat history by mistake, your messages will actually be saved in your mobile internal memory or SD card until they will be erased completely from your mobile phone storage until you save new files or data on your phone. So do not use your phone for now to prevent new files or data overwriting the deleted files or data.
- Install the data recovery software for Android mobiles on your Windows PC.
- Use the data recovery to scan your Android mobile phone. It supports up to 2000 Android mobiles, including Samsung mobiles, LG phones, HTC, Motorola, Lenovo, Nexus, ZTE, Huawei, Xiaomi, Blu, or other Android based phones and tablets.
- Get back your lost WhatsApp messages, and export them from your mobile phone to computer.
Now download the data recovery for Android mobiles from below, and follow below steps to recover deleted WhatsApp Messages without any backups on Samsung or other Android phones.
Note: This is a desktop software for Windows and Mac, you can’t download it on to your Android phone or other computers. This download serves as both the free trial and the full version of the software. You can order online to get the license key through email, then unlock the full version by entering a license key purchased.
Step 1. Turn on the USB debugging option on your Android mobile.
Here is the step-by-step guide shows how you can enable USB debugging on Android phones, or if you are an Samsung Galaxy phone users, see how to enable USB debugging on Samsung Galaxy phones.
Step 2. Connect your Android phone to computer via USB
Run Android Data Recovery on your computer. Use your USB data cord to connect up your mobile phone and computer. The data recovery software can automatically detect your cell phone and establish a connection between the data recovery application and your phone.
Step 3. Analyze your mobile and scan for deleted WhatsApp Messages on Android
The Android data recovery software will now analyze your phone. It will check your Android version, driver support, etc.
Before you allow the Android data recovery program to scan your phone, you have the choice to select what kind of file you like to recover. This is optional, you can leave it to the default, so the data recovery utility will scan all your files and data on the phone.
It is recommended to choose the specific file type you need to recover, in this case it is WhatsApp messages & documents, as this can narrow down and search and save you a lot of time. See below screen capture.
You can also use this data recovery to recover lost photos, videos, contacts, text messages, call history, music, etc.
Step 4. Recover deleted WhatsApp Chat Messages and documents
Now click Next button at the bottom right corner of the above screen to allow the Android data recovery tool to scan your Samsung smartphone or other Android device connected. This tool can search the lost files and data from your internal memory, and external storage. The result page will be grouped into different categories and you can open each category to preview and found data and recover any items or data to your computer and mobile phone.
You can select the WhatsApp data to recover, the chat messages, photos, videos, attachments. You can select and export any or all of them to your computer. The data recover program is compatible with almost all Samsung smartphones and other Android phones like HTC, Motorola, Sony, Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, LG. Refer to this guide, if you are using WhatsApp on iPhone: steps to recover whatsApp chats on iPhone. However there’s no simple way to merge your recovered newest message with your old WhatsApp messages.
Android WhatsApp messages recovery — YouTube video demo
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Is it possible bto recover my old messages if I once deleted the whatapp account
Hi Mat,
It seems you understand in those stuff so I would like to tell you my sad story and see if you can help me.
My phone was stolen a week ago, and I took my mom’s phone and retrieved all the msgs but bcz the memory was small the media and docs weren’t back but I assumed it is on the drive.
After three days, I bought a new phone, I made a back up with the chats on mom’s phone and deleted the whatsapp hoping that when I install it in my bew phone everything will be back, but it unfortunately it retrieved a backup from date 14/5/2016 while I made the backup 2/6/2017!
I was shocked and I deleted it again and insralled it for the 2nd time and yhe shock was that my whatsapp was as good as new with no chats or anything!
I lost my work that was saved for over a year and a half. All pics, chats, docs, everything and I’m in trouble and very sad.
Today while checking the whatsapp darabase I found in the internal memo of the new phone a backup dated with 2/6/2017, bow I’m not sure if this back up is from the recent or from yesterday’s that I was looking for.
Please advice if there is anything I can do and God bless you ?
Regards,
Zahra.
Hi, I have a Samsung A3 and I want to recover Whatsapp and SMS data from upto 6 months ago. The data was deleted at the time it was sent / received. I guess it has been overwritten and gone forever but I don’t know. Is it possible to recover the data ?
it is hard to known whether the deleted data has been overwritten or not before we use this software to scan the device storage. sometimes we can recover data deleted last month but not last week.
Hi, this software does not support Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
it supports some GALAXY S6 Edge models running on Android 6.0.1, such as SM-G928G, SM-G9287C, SM-G9287, SM-G9280, etc.
I have used What’s app once so sorry for my lack of knowledge.
Will every single what’s app chat be in the back-up file if I uninstall then reinstall? Long story but my what’s app shows I was last in it in November 2016 however my first and last conversation was July 2016. I think November may have been my children playing with my phone but husband seems to think I’m having an affair! Any help to prove I have had one and only one conversation on what’s app would help greatly.
if you can find old chats in July 2016, but not any chats in November 2016, the latter if any might be deleted. have you used Whatsapp after November 2016?
if so, the most recent whatsapp backup may not contain the lost chat in November 2016, since a new backup will overwrite previous backup. you can try to install the whatsapp to a new device to confirm. you can also download the above android phone data recovery software to scan your phone, if you are using a compatible device model. the data recovery software can scan and find those deleted data before they are overwritten by new data saved on your phone.