WhatsApp is a popular messaging app today. It is a convenient way for you to stay in touch with your friends, family, colleagues and other dear ones. This messaging platform is available on Android, Windows as well as Apple devices.

However, sometimes you might end up losing all your messages and other data. This can occur either accidentally or through some technical error. No matter whatever the reason is, it is always painful when you lose your chats. 

Thankfully, Whatsapp has a very useful backup feature meant for backing up your data. So, if you keep your data backed up, it becomes easy to restore the lost data. However, even if you don’t back up your data and end up losing it, you can retrieve them back.

Here, we’ll walk you through important steps to perform WhatsApp data recovery without any professional help. 

What Causes WhatsApp Data Loss?

There can be various factors that might lead to the deletion of your WhatsApp data. These areas mentioned below:

  • Accidental deletion: You end up deleting your WhatsApp chat history, images, videos, and other data by mistake. 
  • Flashing your smartphone: Flashing refers to upgrading or reinstalling the Operating System of your smartphone.
  • Changing the smartphone device: If you’ve recently bought a new smartphone and your WhatsApp isn’t backed up then you’ll lose all data from it.
  • No Data Backup: This is the primary reason behind data loss on WhatsApp. It is crucial to periodically back up your data on WhatsApp.

How To Smoothly Perform WhatsApp Data Recovery?

Loss of WhatsApp data is a common occurrence. Thankfully, there are simple methods following which you can easily retrieve back the lost data on your device. 

WhatsApp Data Recovery on Android without Backup

Taking into consideration the possibility of a loss of data, WhatsApp introduced the data backup feature. But, sadly, many users do not keep their data backed up. So, when they accidentally lose their data it becomes a problem for them. However, it is not impossible to bring back the deleted data.

So, if you lose your WhatsApp messages and you don’t have a backup then, do not panic. We have got you covered. Follow the steps given below carefully: 

Step 1

Download an Android data recovery software on your Windows PC. When you lose your WhatsApp data without backup, it gets saved in the internal storage of your phone. This software will allow you to restore back the lost data on your smartphone.

Step 2

Android data recovery works on a wide range of Android devices regardless of the make and model. All you have to do is to let the software scan through your mobile devices. Before that, you need to connect your Android device with your computer through a USB cable. After the scan is completed, choose the files that you wish to restore back. 

Now, proceed with the restoration process.

Step 3

When the restoration is completed carefully, export the data back to your smartphone from your computer device. 

WhatsApp Data Recovery on Android with Backup

WhatsApp introduced a data backup feature. This allows you to store your WhatsApp data on Google Drive or your phone’s memory. So, whenever you lose your data you can restore them back from the Drive simply through a few steps.

Restore Data from Recent Backup

WhatsApp automatically restores your data every day at 4 AM. This is called local data backup. The data is stored locally on your phone’s internal storage memory. If there isn’t enough space there, WhatsApp will store the data on your microSD card. So, whenever you lose your WhatsApp data this is what you should do:

  1. At first, uninstall the WhatsApp application and then reinstall it back.
  2. Now, while you go through the installation process WhatsApp will ask you to restore your data. Click on the Restore option. 
  3. Thereafter, all your data that is less than 7 days will come back to your device. 

Restore WhatsApp History from Old Backups

However, if you wish to restore WhatsApp data that is older than 7 days then you need to restore chats from older backups. Here’s how you can do it:

  1. At first, uninstall the WhatsApp application on your smartphone.
  2. Now, go to the WhatsApp database or the backup folder on your smartphone. Choose the backup file that you wish to restore back. 
  3. Thereafter, rename the file from ’msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt7’ to ‘msgstore.db.crypt7’
  4. Now, reinstall the WhatsApp application. Select the application if you wish to restore your data click on the Restore option. 

Restore Recent Chat Data Without Losing the New Chat

You must know that you cannot restore messages you send or receive after a backup and before the next backup. In that case, you can use a manual backup process. Follow these steps for making a manual backup:

  1. Go to the menu option on your WhatsApp application. Now, click on the Settings option. 
  2. Thereafter, choose the Chat Settings option and tap on Backup Conversations.
  3. Rename the file when the manually backed up file gets stored in the internal storage. 

Disadvantages Of Retrieving WhatsApp Data from Backups

Having a data backup on your WhatsApp can be highly useful for you in many cases. However, it can also come up with certain drawbacks. 

  1. You won’t be able to restore the data if your SD card is corrupted. 
  2. In case you changed your phone number after having a backup, you won’t be able to restore the data. 
  3. If you get a manual backup, it is going to overwrite the automatic backup files that you got recently. 
  4. When you go for backing up of data on WhatsApp you won’t be able to restore the most recent data. 

Concluding Note…

To sum up, it can be quite heartbreaking to lose all of your conversations and chat history on WhatsApp. Although there are ways by which you can get back the data that you can’t expect success all the time.

If you fail to restore lost data through your personal effort you must seek professional help. There are numerous WhatsApp data recovery services. They employ some of the best technicians who can help you get back your data. You can also avail of their services to restore your deleted WhatsApp messages. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How can you Permanently Delete WhatsApp Messages?

Launch the WhatsApp application and go to the Settings option. From there, select the Media Settings option. Now, keep scrolling to the bottom of the list to find the Delete All Conversation option. This option will delete all the messages and chats from your history.

2. How Long do WhatsApp Messages Stay on the Phone?

WhatsApp does not store any of your messages on their servers. However, your message will stay stored only for 30 days from the date of sending the message. WhatsApp’s policies prevent them from storing your messages permanently.