Deleted WhatsApp messages by mistake? Here’s how to get them back

New Delhi: Several issues can trigger one to lose their WhatsApp conversations. This can happen if a user accidentally changes their device or deletes their chats. This could result in the loss of essential information shared in chats, such as contacts, maps, documents, and other files, as well as any unsaved media. However, using the chat history recorded on your Google Drive or device, it is possible to recover lost WhatsApp talks.

WhatsApp does not save your conversations on its servers; instead, it generates databases on your Google Drive or the internal storage of your device. This can be used to recover any conversation history that has been accidentally deleted or lost for any other reason.

In order to restore your chat history follow these steps:

Restore WhatsApp chats from Google Drive

To begin, make sure WhatsApp is backing up your chat history to your Google Drive account. Log in to your Google account first if you're moving to a new device. Users can choose to back up their conversation history once a day, once a week, or once a month.

Install WhatsApp and authenticate your phone number to restore your WhatsApp chat history. WhatsApp will prompt you to recover your chat history from Google Drive once you've completed the sign in and verification process. To complete the process, click 'Restore.' When you're finished, hit 'Next' to find your old chats.

If your chat history isn't stored in Google Drive, WhatsApp will get it from local storage. However, this will not work on a new device.

Restore WhatsApp chat history from local backup

Go to your file manager, or get one if you don't already have one. Look for the WhatsApp folder, which is normally located in the internal storage of your device. After you've entered the folder, select Databases. You'll find backups of your chat history here, organised by date. Check to see if it has the date's chat history.

If your WhatsApp data is saved on an SD card, copy the most recent entry in the Databases folder and paste it into the same-named folder in your internal storage.

Uninstall WhatsApp and reinstall it, then log in with your phone number. By tapping the 'Recover' button, you can allow WhatsApp to restore your communication history.

Select the chosen one from the Databases folder and rename it from msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 to msgstore.db.crypt12 to restore chat backups from a later date. Make sure to only remove the date and leave the rest alone. The crypt extension should not be changed.