Messenger
Whatsapp trick: This is how you can still read deleted messages
Deleted messages on WhatsApp arouse curiosity – sometimes you can still read them
© Pheelings Media / Getty Images
Whatsapp has allowed messages to be subsequently deleted for some time now. But they only disappear at first glance – with tricks you can still read the posts.
Once it’s on the Internet, it can no longer be retrieved: This rule also applies to private Whatsapp messages. Just because something has been deleted doesn’t mean you can’t get it back. It has long been possible to subsequently delete incorrect messages or even content that was not intended for the recipient. At first glance everything is fine: the chat then only says “This message has been deleted.” But was she?
In fact, it is possible to make supposedly removed posts readable. Because let’s be honest: If you don’t stop short If you looked at your cell phone and only saw a deleted message, you actually wanted to know what it said.
Save Whatsapp messages with Android
Android users have it particularly easy. With apps like “Notification History Log”, incoming notifications are logged and are then available as a copy in the app’s so-called log file. What happened to the original post in the meantime no longer matters.
Unfortunately, the app has several disadvantages: You can only read messages that were received after “Notification History Log” was installed. In addition, only those letters for which there was a notification end up in the app. If an individual sender or group is muted, the app will not catch the message.
More storage, more security
15 helpful tips for WhatsApp that will make your messenger safer and better
Depending on the Android smartphone, you don’t even need a third-party app. Example: Google Pixel 8: If you go to “Notifications” in the settings, you can activate the system’s own “Notification History”. The “Notification Protocol” performs a similar function. This can be achieved via the home screen widget “Settings”, which can be added to the home screen of some Android smartphones by briefly pressing and holding the screen in a free space.
There is no such app for iPhones – and notifications about new WhatsApp messages with plain text disappear as soon as the sender deletes them in the app. If you’re quick, you can of course take a screenshot of the lock screen.
Whatsapp chats in quotes and backups
Especially in groups, Whatsapp itself can prevent a message from disappearing – through quotes. If someone has written something to which another person has replied, i.e. quoting the original message, the sender can delete the source, but this does not change the quote. So the deleted message remains.
The WhatsApp backup also saves messages that should have been deleted long ago. But only if the chats were backed up between receiving the message and its removal. In the WhatsApp settings you can specify how often this should happen under “Chats” and “Chat backup”. Of course, with monthly backups it is less likely that you have intercepted a removed post. Things look different with daily backups.
Even if WhatsApp has accidentally saved a message that was thought to be lost, being able to read it is surprisingly difficult. In order to restore a backup, you first have to delete the messenger from your smartphone and then reinstall it. However, if you agree to this time-consuming ordeal, you will actually be rewarded with the message that was actually removed.