Did you accidentally delete a WhatsApp chat and now you’re not sure how to get it back? It happens more often than you’d think, and the good news is that in many cases the messages can be recovered — as long as you act the right way and, ideally, without wasting time.

Warning: the moment you realize you’ve deleted something, stop using WhatsApp. Continuing to send and receive messages can overwrite data and make recovery impossible.

How WhatsApp backups work

First, it helps to understand how WhatsApp handles automatic backups:

  • On Android, chats are copied to Google Drive (and locally to the device’s storage) on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, depending on your settings.
  • On iPhone, backups happen exclusively via iCloud, with no local save at all.

In both cases, restoring only works if there’s a backup dated before you deleted the messages. To check the date of the last backup, open WhatsApp, go to Settings > Chats > Chat backup, and check the “Last backup” entry.

Recovering messages on Android

From Google Drive

If your Google Drive backup predates the deletion, here’s what to do:

  1. Uninstall WhatsApp from your phone (Settings > Apps > WhatsApp > Uninstall).
  2. Download WhatsApp again from the Google Play Store.
  3. Launch the app and complete initial setup with the same phone number.
  4. When prompted, tap Restore to recover chats from Google Drive.

If you had set up an end-to-end encrypted backup, you’ll be asked for the backup’s protection password.

From a local backup

Android automatically creates backup files in the device’s internal storage, independent of Google Drive. These files are located in the Internal Storage/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Databases folder and are named msgstore.db.crypt14 (or crypt15).

If the date on that file predates the deletion, you can use it to restore:

  1. Make a backup copy of the files outside the WhatsApp folder.
  2. Uninstall WhatsApp.
  3. Disconnect WhatsApp from Google Drive by removing the WhatsApp Messenger connection at myaccount.google.com/connections (this forces the restore to pull from the local backup instead of Drive).
  4. Reinstall WhatsApp and, once your number is verified, tap Restore when the app detects the local file.

Note: starting with Android 11, some folders may only be accessible via specific file managers or by connecting the phone to a PC.

Recovering messages on iPhone

On iPhone, the only official option is restoring via iCloud. There’s no local backup like on Android.

If your iCloud backup predates the deletion:

  1. Delete WhatsApp from your iPhone (long-press the icon > Remove App > Delete App).
  2. Download WhatsApp again from the App Store.
  3. Follow the setup process and verify your phone number.
  4. When WhatsApp detects the iCloud backup, tap Restore Chat History.

No backup available: what you can do

If you don’t have a usable backup, the options narrow down, but they’re not zero.

On Android, there are apps that log notifications in real time — like WhatsRemoved+ or Notisave — which let you see messages deleted by the sender, as long as they were installed before the deletion happened.

To attempt a retroactive recovery without a backup, you can turn to specialized data recovery software, like MobileTrans for Android or Enigma Recovery for iPhone. These tools scan the device’s storage for leftover data, but they offer no guarantees.

On iPhone, an alternative is a full device restore from an iTunes/Finder backup that predates the deletion — a drastic procedure that overwrites all current data.

Transferring chats to a new phone

If you’re switching devices and want to bring your WhatsApp conversations with you, the path differs depending on the case:

  • Android to Android or iPhone to iPhone: cloud backup, or the built-in Chat Transfer feature.
  • Android to iPhone: you’ll need the Move to iOS app, available on the Play Store.
  • iPhone to Android: WhatsApp provides Move Chats to Android, compatible with Samsung, Google Pixel, and Android 12+ devices.

In summary

Recovering deleted WhatsApp messages is possible in most cases, as long as you have an up-to-date backup and act before the data gets overwritten. The most reliable approach remains turning on automatic backup and setting it to run daily.