How to recover WhatsApp chat history

All users are recommended to set up chat backups. To do this, open WhatsApp, click on the icon in the form of three dots in the upper right corner, and go to "Settings". Then go to the "Chats" section, scroll down, and go to "Chat Backup".

Scroll down, click on "Google Account", select either an authorized or add a new Gmail account. Then in the "Backup to Google Drive" section, select "Daily", and in the "Backup over Mobile Data" section, switch the toggle to the on position. Choose whether or not to save videos according to your preference. Now the app will automatically create backups of your chats.

Method #1

The easiest way to restore WhatsApp chats is to use Google Drive, where backups are stored at regular intervals: daily, weekly, or monthly. To restore a backup, you need to use the same phone number and email address that were previously set up for backup.

To restore, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your Google account with the email address configured for backup.
2. Download and install WhatsApp.
3. Launch the messenger and verify your phone number.
4. After authorization, WhatsApp will prompt you to restore chats and media from the email storage. Click on "Restore".
5. After the copying process is complete, click "Next" and check the restored messages in the chats. Media files and videos will be restored last.

Method #2

WhatsApp creates backups of chats and media files on the device daily after midnight. This happens regardless of whether backup is configured on Google Drive. The messenger creates file copies for the past week, replacing old files by day. The storage location for files is "/sdcard/WhatsApp/". If there is no SD card or it is not installed, the "WhatsApp" folder is created directly in the internal memory. The path will be "/storage/WhatsApp/".

To restore chats, follow these steps:

1. Install any Android file manager.
2. Launch the manager and navigate to the internal memory or SD card of the device in the root directory. Find and open the "WhatsApp" folder.
3. Go to the "Database" folder. It should contain seven files of the following type - "msgstore-year-month-date.1.db.crypt14".
4. Select the file from the most recent date when the backup was performed. Rename it to "msgstore.db.crypt12".
5. Download and install WhatsApp. When launching it, authorize and agree to restore the backup of chats.

Method #3

Sometimes, sent messages can be accidentally deleted before they are included in the scheduled backup. In this case, you can recover the conversation by asking the other chat participant to resend the messages partially or in full.

Follow these steps:

• Tap and hold on the message in the chat that you want to resend to the other participant. This allows you to select multiple messages.
• In the top part, click on the arrow pointing right. Then, select the person from the contact list. At the bottom, click on the green "Send" button.
• If you want to resend the entire chat history, go to the "Settings" in the top part of the messenger.
• Then go to the "Chats" section, scroll down, and select "Chat History". Click on "Export Chat", select the user, and send it.

When restoring the entire chat, you can transfer messages and media files directly through WhatsApp or other messengers, email services, or cloud storage.

Method #4

There are various third-party programs available to restore WhatsApp chats, such as Tenorshare UltData, Wondershare MobileTrans, Recover WA Messages, etc. They can be downloaded from Google Play or the official websites of the developers.

As an example, let's consider the program Tenorshare UltData for working with Android, which allows you to recover lost data of various types from over 5,000 smartphone models. Importantly, the program does not require root access and works with Android versions 5.0 and above.

To restore WhatsApp chats using Tenorshare UltData, follow these steps:

1. Download the program from this address - "https://www.tenorshare.com/products/android-data-recovery.html".
2. Install the utility and connect your smartphone/tablet to the computer using a USB cable.
3. Launch the program, click on "WhatsApp Data Recovery".
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to authorize the program on your Android device. The program should detect and prompt you to start scanning. Click on the "Start" button.
5. Access WhatsApp or perform authorization in the messenger if it hasn't been done before. Confirm the actions by clicking "Yes, Continue".
6. Wait for Tenorshare UltData to finish scanning your device and messenger.
7. When finished, the program will display all the found data related to WhatsApp, including files deleted from the device.
8. Select the files you want to restore and click on the "Recover" button at the bottom of the program. The files will be copied to your computer.

Before restoring, it is recommended to enable backup to Google Drive as instructed at the beginning of the article. Also, after enabling backup, perform a manual backup. After that, you can safely use any third-party software to recover deleted files.