How to recover WhatsApp messages without backup

Currently, WhatsApp is the most used communication tool in the world, with millions of users. It is the application par excellence to contact other people, send photos, videos and other types of files, such as PDF documents. Therefore, it is very likely that you have a large part of your relevant information in this application. Sometimes it may happen that a person loses their conversations and needs to recover WhatsApp messages with or without Backup.

This can occur for different reasons, whether the user himself deleted information inadvertently, the other person is the one who deleted the conversation, the loss of the mobile or even the mobile phone screen is broken and cannot use any application .

Fortunately, there are several tools that allow you to restore WhatsApp messages. The options are varied: the WhatsApp backup itself, the manual search of the files, other restoration applications on the mobile , or even tools that are used from a desktop computer. All these options do not affect third parties, but rather work on your own device and your personal WhatsApp account. At no time is the privacy of another person being invaded nor is it necessary to access an external account.

Take advantage of the backup that WhatsApp generates

WhatsApp automatically generates a backup of all the conversations that are made. In this way, it is possible to recover WhatsApp conversations on your mobile . However, for it to work, this option must be activated, otherwise the stored data is deleted when changing terminals or uninstalling the application.

Making a backup copy is a very useful tool to keep a storage of messages, even deleted ones . However, many people ignore this feature and turn it off or don’t pay attention to it at all.

Every so often, WhatsApp presents a menu reminding you of the existence of backups. There, the user is given a possibility to establish the saving of backup copies, every certain period of time. It can be set on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis.

How the backup is stored

This backup is stored, either on the device itself, or in the “cloud” to which the mobile phone is connected. Thus, it is possible to access all WhatsApp conversations even from a desktop computer. This tool is very useful at all times, but especially when you have to change your mobile. When launching WhatsApp on a mobile device, the option to import a backup appears. If you have this file, it is possible to recover all the conversations, photos, videos, etc. on your new smartphone.

How to recover WhatsApp messages without backup

Manual file search

Those users who do not present a backup but want to recover conversations, photos or messages, can resort to a method that does not require installation of any software . You just have to make certain manual modifications to existing WhatsApp files.

To carry out this process, you have to follow certain steps. They are not difficult, even people with little technological knowledge can do it.

1. The first step is to enter the device storage and find the WhatsApp folder. Inside this, you have to look for the “Databases” folder, which is where the information is stored.
2. Once that folder is opened, there will be a file called “msgstore.db.crypt12”. It is necessary to rename this file, placing the date of the messages to be restored, following the year-month-day format.
3. Finally , you have to do a reinstallation of the WhatsApp application. When you open it, you will get the option to restore the messages, including the file that we modified earlier. In this way, despite not having a backup, those conversations can be recovered.

Using external applications

All the conversations that are made on WhatsApp are stored somewhere. Even when they are deleted, they can be recovered . However, this task can be very difficult for some people if they have to do it manually.

In these cases, you just need to find external applications that do the dirty work. One of them is called WhatsRemoved +, and it can be easily found in the Google app store. This application works as a security and protection system that is linked to the WhatsApp account and stores all the information. Its utility covers a large number of functions, such as:

• Search for files and conversations in each individual folder
• See all deleted messages in the same window
• A notification search system

Basically, this application allows us to recover deleted conversations, find lost photos, and all kinds of files that are in WhatsApp. It is responsible for searching through all the files and data, so that the user can have the comfort of receiving all the information in a simple way.

Make a backup of the WhatsApp account

It is very common for people to change their mobile, either because it is obsolete and they want a late-model one, or because it has been broken. Without a backup, all chats would be lost when switching from one mobile to another . This is when an application like Back Text for Whats appears. Its operation is very simple to recover WhatsApp messages without backup.

1. Once installed, it collects all WhatsApp conversations and transforms them into a text file, depending on the chosen format (plain text, Excel, HTML or other).
2. This file is saved in the internal storage of the phone or in an external memory, and can be transferred to a computer using a USB cable, or read from the mobile itself.

Recover WhatsApp messages without backup from computer

For those who prefer to carry out the process from a desktop computer, because it is more comfortable, they can also do it . In this case, there are applications that are installed directly on the computer and collect data from the cell phone when connected with a USB.

This method also works when the mobile screen breaks and cannot be used. However, you can turn on and recover WhatsApp conversations before losing everything. One of the main alternatives is the one offered by FoneDog, the company that provides the application called “Android Data Recovery”.

• The first thing to do is enter their website and download the program and install it on the computer.
• Then, connect the smartphone to the PC via USB, activating the debugging option.
• When you open the program, it will recognize the device and display a list of all files that can be recovered. In this case, we care about WhatsApp conversations, so we will choose that option and press the “next” button.
• The program will scan and obtain all the available data and thus restore WhatsApp chats.

There are other alternatives, such as Dr. Fone Data Recovery (for Android devices only) or Fonepaw (for Android and iOS). These programs work in a similar way: you have to install them on the computer and connect the cell phone using a USB cable. The menus will be displayed there and will show all the files available to recover. You must select those conversations, photos, videos or other files that you want to save.

What to do in case the other person deletes the messages?

It can happen that a person with whom you are chatting sends you a message, and when you open the conversation, it is already deleted. WhatsApp will indicate it to us with this way: “the user has deleted this content for everyone”.  This content is lost and cannot be recovered, although there is one option left, only available on Android, and this is the notification log.

When we receive a message, a notification is generated at the top of the screen. Even, many times it is possible to read the messages directly from there, without resorting to the application. Therefore, it is possible to access a notification log and try to recover that message that was deleted by the other person.

For this, there are special applications, such as Notification History or Nova Launcher . This software analyzes what is known as Notification Log, or log of notifications, and gives us the complete list. Thus, you can get to read those deleted messages.

However, several clarifications must be made:

1. In order to access the notification, there needs to be interaction. For example , if we have notifications disabled, it is impossible to obtain it. The same if the phone was off at the time of the message. It also happens if the screen is on and with the chat open, in those cases the notification is not generated.
2. Stored notifications have a character limit. The maximum stored is 100, so if the message was longer, only the beginning of the message will be obtained.
3. There is also a limit of notifications saved at the same time. When that amount is exceeded, the oldest ones begin to be erased. If there are many notifications per day, the message may be lost.
4. The notification log is reset every time the mobile is restarted or turned off.
5. The notification can be read as long as it is text. In case the deleted message was a photo or a video, it will not be visible. However, it helps to know what type of message it was, which WhatsApp does not show.

With all these tricks and tools, you will already know how to recover WhatsApp messages without backup, although if you have any questions, you can leave a comment to help you at any stage of the process.