WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Meta, added a new feature a while ago, allowing users to unsend messages within an hour. Users can delete messages in individual chats and group chats, and the feature is available on Android, iOS, and Windows platforms. The WhatsApp “delete permanently” feature comes with caveats like recipients get to know that you have deleted a message as “This message was deleted” is displayed instead of the deleted message. This complication arises the question, “How to read deleted WhatsApp messages?”
The feature is indeed helpful for recalling the message if you have committed a spelling mistake or if you have sent the message unintentionally. However, if you want to see deleted WhatsApp messages, there are a couple of workarounds that can be used.
On Android?
You can use either one of the two methods to have a look at deleted WhatsApp messages on your Android smartphone. Here’s how:
1. Read deleted messages using WhatsApp Chat Backup
If you have deleted a chat accidentally that you want to recover, you can do so with the help of WhatsApp Chat backup, which occurs every night at 2 am by default. You can change the frequency of backup to daily, weekly, or monthly. However, choosing daily as the preferred backup frequency is recommended as you can restore chats before the next backup occurs at 2 am.
To restore deleted WhatsApp chats, pursue the following steps:
- Uninstall WhatsApp and install it again from Google Play Store if you are using an Android device.
- Agree to Terms and Conditions and enter your mobile number along with the country code in the next step.
- You will see an option to restore chats from a backup. Click on the restore option and your WhatsApp chats will be restored.
2. Read deleted messages using Third-Party Apps
To read deleted WhatsApp messages, you can use third-party apps. There are many applications available on Google Play Store that allow you to recover WhatsApp messages after you or the sender has deleted them. These apps maintain a log of your notifications stored in the notification register of the Android system.
There is a popular app named “WhatsRemoved+” that you can use to read deleted WhatsApp messages. With over 5 million downloads, the app is available only for Android users and not for iOS users. Also, this app to read deleted WhatsApp messages contains ads, and you can remove them by buying the premium subscription of the app.
Using the WhatsRemoved+ App
- Download the app from Google Play Store and install it.
- Agree to the terms and conditions as prompted on the screen and allow access to notifications.
- Select WhatsApp from the list of apps to read deleted messages.
- Now, whenever someone deletes a message sent to you, you’ll get a notification from the app.
- To read deleted WhatsApp message, open the notification and tap on the “DETECTED” tab.
- From there, you can read the deleted message even after it is deletion.
Besides WhatsRemoved+, there are several other apps that you can use to read deleted WhatsApp messages. However, you must understand that giving access to your smartphone’s notification to a third-party app involves a significant security risk.
Also, once you restart your smartphone, the Android System clears the notification log, making it impossible to retrieve messages even when using third-party apps.
On iOS
Unfortunately, iOS doesn’t have any third-party apps that you can install to view a deleted WhatsApp message. Although, there is a workaround to do that using the notifications.
Any recently deleted messages that you got a notification about stay in the notification center. If you swipe down notifications and long-press the message, you can read its content. Although be very careful while handling it as upon opening, it will dismiss the notification immediately. This method is quite conditional, so keep an eye out on the notifications before opening any chats where the other user deletes messages often.
Further, it might be the case that the recipient isn’t running the version of WhatsApp, which supports the delete functionality. In that situation, you won’t be able to undo your sins.
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