How to see deleted WhatsApp messages
When someone deletes a message for everyone, WhatsApp replaces it with This message was deleted on every phone in the chat. No setting shows the original, but a copy may still exist in a few places. Here is where to look, and what to avoid.
What deleting for everyone does
The sender has about two days after sending a message to delete it for everyone. WhatsApp then removes it from each person’s chat and leaves This message was deleted in its place. In a group, admins can also delete other members’ messages, and the chat shows that an admin deleted it.
WhatsApp does not keep a copy on its servers. It also says the deletion can fail, and that people may see a message before it is deleted.
Delete for me is different. It removes a message from the deleter’s phone only, so everyone else still has it.
Check notification history on Android
If the message arrived as a notification before it was deleted, Android may still hold its text. Many Android phones keep a notification history, which you turn on in Settings, then Notifications, then Advanced settings or More settings, then Notification history. The path depends on who made the phone.
It only helps if notification history was already on when the message arrived, and only for messages that came in as a notification, not ones that arrived while you had the chat open or the chat muted. It shows the notification preview, which may be cut short, and a photo or voice note appears only as a label. iPhone does not keep a history of notifications you have seen or cleared.
Photos and videos may still be on the phone
Deleting a photo or video for everyone removes it from the chat, but not always from the phone. If WhatsApp saved it to your gallery when it arrived, through Save to Photos on iPhone or media visibility on Android, the copy in your gallery stays.
Other copies of the message
- A forward of the message to another chat, or a screenshot someone took, is unaffected by the deletion.
- In a group, other members may have read it before it went.
- A WhatsApp backup made after the message arrived and before it was deleted contains it. Restoring that backup brings it back, but replaces all your chats and loses everything sent since, which is rarely worth it for one message.
Apps that claim to show deleted messages
On Android, apps that promise to show deleted WhatsApp messages work by reading your notifications as they arrive and saving the text. They have the same limits as notification history. To work at all, they need permission to read every notification on your phone, including messages from other apps, emails, and one-time codes from your bank. WhatsApp does not make or check them. If you try one, check who publishes it, and take away its notification access when you are done.
On iPhone, apps cannot read other apps’ notifications, so an app claiming to show deleted WhatsApp messages there cannot do what it says.
Deleted messages nothing will show
- A message deleted before your phone received it.
- Disappearing messages after they have disappeared.
- View once photos, videos, and voice messages, after they have been opened.
- A message deleted for everyone that did not reach your notifications or a backup.
Deleted messages in an exported chat
An export writes a message deleted for everyone as This message was deleted, or You deleted this message for one of yours. It does not contain the original text.
The reverse is useful: an export keeps the conversation as it was when you made it. If a chat matters to you, perhaps a disagreement or a record of what someone agreed to, export it now. Messages deleted from WhatsApp later stay in your file.