How to read deleted WhatsApp messages

Have you ever deleted a message unintentionally on WhatsApp? Have you ever thought about the possibility of retrieving a deleted message? If you have been wondering how to retrieve deleted messages on WhatsApp, then this post is for you.

In this post, I would be discussing on how to read or retrieve any deleted message on WhatsApp so you wouldn’t have to worry about retrieving a deleted message again.

How to Read Deleted WhatsApp Messages

WhatsApp, a very popular messaging app owned by Facebook is one of the most used messaging apps all over the globe. In fact, WhatsApp is currently used by almost half of the world’s population.

Recently, WhatsApp added a new feature to improve its product which allows users to unsend messages within the period of an hour. As we all know, messages can be deleted in individual chats as well as group chats.

This new feature is available for users on Android, iOS and Windows platforms. Anytime a message is deleted, a message is displayed on the screen which reads “This message was deleted” instead of the deleted message.

This feature has indeed been helpful in situations whereby you have committed a spelling mistake or probably sent an unintentional message. However, if you wish to read any deleted message on WhatsApp, don’t worry as I would be sharing a couple of tricks with you to do that in the next session.

Ways to Read Deleted WhatsApp Messages.

1. By using WhatsApp Chat Backup

To recover any unintentional deleted WhatsApp, you can make use of WhatsApp Chat Backup. The WhatsApp Chat Backup which occurs every night at 2 AM allows you to recover any deleted WhatsApp message before 2 am. You can decide to change the frequency of the backup to either daily, weekly, or monthly. But it is advisable to choose the daily backup as the preferred backup frequency as you can restore chats before the next backup occurs at 2 am.

But how do you go about restoring deleted WhatsApp chats by using the WhatsApp Chat backup? Read on!

Uninstall WhatsApp and install it again from the store depending on whether you are using an iPhone or Android device.
Agree to the Terms and Conditions and enter your mobile number along with your country code in the next step.
Before WhatsApp would begin its full operation, you will be presented with an option to restore chats from a backup. Click on the restore option and your WhatsApp Chats will be restored. Note that the process of restoring will take quite some time before full restoration.

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2. By using Third-Party Apps

Another way you can restore deleted WhatsApp messages is by making use of third-party apps.

What are third-party apps? How can you use it to restore deleted WhatsApp messages?

Third-party apps are applications that allow you to recover WhatsApp messages that have been deleted either by you or its sender. A couple of these third-party apps are available on Google Play Store. The function of these third-party apps is to maintain a log of your notifications that are stored in the notification register of the Android system.
Disadvantages of Third-party apps

One of the disadvantages of using third-party apps for restoring deleted WhatsApp messages has to do with the fact that you are at a security risk by giving the third-party app access to your smartphone’s notification.

Another limitation of these apps is that you can only use it to recover deleted messages which you have not interacted with. Note that once your smartphone is restarted, the notification log will be cleared from the Android system thereby making it impossible to retrieve messages even when third-party apps are used.

To summarize this section for you: You can restore deleted WhatsApp messages by the use of third-party apps which keeps a log of your notifications and register them in your Android system. But trouble comes in if you decide to restart your phone. So doing, you won’t be able to retrieve messages even when third-party apps are used.
Notification log not working anymore?

Recently WhatsApp had allowed its users to delete their WhatsApp messages on either side of the conservation popularly known as “Delete for Everyone”.

This allows some WhatsApp users to delete not only their side of the conversation but also the recipient copy of the message. This feature can be taken advantage of either in an individual chat or group chat but it must be used within seven minutes.

However, in a recent post by Android Jefe, it is possible to read WhatsApp messages even after they are deleted by the sender. It is interesting to know that it is also possible on Android devices by viewing the notification log.

But how do I read deleted messages on my Android device? To know how you can read deleted WhatsApp messages on your Android device, then follow the steps below:

Go to the Home Screen on your Android phone.
Find any free area on the screen and hold.
Tap widgets and find the Settings widget on the list.
After that, tap and hold the Settings Widget and place it anywhere on the home screen. A list of available options would appear next.
Scroll down and select Notification Log.

All done? Tapping the new Settings icon on the Home screen would show Android notifications from the past and also the deleted WhatsApp messages which were displayed as notifications.

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This is really a nice way of retrieving deleted WhatsApp messages. But is there another way I can do this without going through all these?

Well, my dear reader, the answer to your question is YES!!! Another way to read WhatsApp deleted messages is by downloading an Android app from the Google Play Store called Notification History.
Do we really need to delete WhatsApp messages?

In this post, I have discussed different ways by which you can restore and read deleted WhatsApp messages. And I guess it was helpful. Nevertheless, I don’t really see any need for deleting messages if probably we were more careful when writing the message.

Also if the recipient isn’t running the version of WhatsApp that doesn’t support the delete functionality, then it might not be possible for you to delete any message.

Thanks for spending your time reading this post, you can always check back some other time for more interesting and useful tech hints. Have a nice day!