WhatsApp has recently announced a new feature that lets us see deleted WhatsApp messages within a time limit of 7 minutes.
Have you ever seen that a message was deleted in your WhatsApp group chat?
Do you want to know what it was? If so, you are in the right place. Well, we’ve discovered a trick to see a deleted WhatsApp message even after the 7-minute time limit. If you want to know how continue reading.
See a Deleted WhatsApp Message after 7 minutes
What we found is that the Android system stores all messages in its notification register. So, it’s just a matter of gaining access to that record to see messages that the other person deleted. The Notification History application can be a shortcut to accessing that record.
Despite the limitations of this trick, it’s proven to work perfectly. With it, you can retrieve accidentally deleted messages or ones you’ve already seen.
To proceed, make sure you have a phone with Android 6 or 7 at least. Compatibility varies from one phone to another.
Search the message in the Android notification log
To see the notification log, the easiest way is to install the Notification History app. The app is just a shortcut to open the notification registry of the Android system. Tap the icon once installation is complete, and you will gain access.
Once you’re in, look for the notification that says WhatsApp. The message will be on the line that says “android.text”.
Other ways to see deleted WhatsApp messages
There are still other methods to see deleted WhatsApp messages even after the 7-minute time limit.
Nova Launcher
If you are using an advanced launcher such as Nova Launcher, it is not necessary to install the Notification History application mentioned above. You can find a shortcut to the notification log within the options of this launcher:
- Long-press on an empty area of the home screen
- Tap on “Widgets”.
- Long-press on “Activities”.
- In the list that will appear, tap “Settings”.
- In the sub-list, tap “Notification Log” to create a shortcut on the home screen.
From that shortcut, you can enter the Android notification history and search for WhatsApp deleted messages at any time.
Methods without external software
In phones with a “pure” Android system, the previous apps will not be necessary. If you add the “Settings” widget to the home screen, you will probably find the “Notification Registration” option on any Android mobile, for example, the Motorola Moto G.
Limitations on retrieving messages
- Only messages that have already been seen or interacted with can be retrieved (for example, if the notification is gone or the notification bar/floating notification removed, even if the message has NOT been opened). Only when the system detects these events will it save the message in the registry. Otherwise, it will replace the message with, “This message has been deleted.”
Download and Install WhatsApp Business App
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- Only the first 100 characters of the deleted message (approximately) will be visible.
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- The registry only saves notifications for a certain time, sometimes a couple hours only. We do not know why this varies. But, you’re probably in trouble if you want to see deleted messages from the previous day. If you have deleted messages you received days ago (although this is ridiculously unlikely), using the “Restore” option when reinstalling WhatsApp may allow you to see those messages again.
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- Applicable on Android 7 and higher versions. We have only tested it on Android 6. Although this system has the option of a notification history, we have not been able to see the content of those notifications. If you try this, let us know in the comments if it works!
- Only works with messages that generate a notification on your phone. That is, you can not retrieve messages while you were on WhatsApp with the chat open. In that case, you wouldn’t receive a notification and therefore it wouldn’t work.
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- You can recover text only, not photos. The positive thing is that if it were a photo, you would know because in the registration it would appear as such. If it was a text message, “This message was deleted.” will appear, which is the generic warning that WhatsApp shows.
Better safe than sorry
There are applications that make a backup of everything you receive on WhatsApp. The best thing about these applications is that they don’t have any of the above limitations. You can “recover” messages that you haven’t seen in almost any version of Android—not only in WhatsApp but also Telegram. You can even recover photos!
We have tried the Recent History app for this, which works.
Important
Whether you use an Android notification record or a backup application, it is important to understand that these apps extract the content of messages from cell phone notifications. Therefore, make sure you’ve enabled WhatsApp notifications. In the settings of the application, option “Notifications”. The setting that must be activated is the “Allow notifications” option.
So, this how we see deleted WhatsApp messages after 7 minutes of time. If you are facing any issues while applying the above methods, let us know them in the comments. We will get back to you as soon as possible to solve any queries.
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Which app do you use to see deleted WhatsApp messages?
