How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Group
This post will explain how to recover deleted WhatsApp groups. There are millions of WhatsApp users all over the world. There is a possibility that you will delete a group, message or person by mistake while using this application.
There are still strong chances for you to recover deleted WhatsApp groups if you are also facing this issue. Various methods will be discussed in this article for recovering deleted WhatsApp groups.
Meeting an old friend one-on-one sounds great, but wouldn’t it be nice to get together with all your old friends? The idea of a gathering where everybody knows everyone and can reminisce about old incidents and memories together sounds much better than a meeting between two people.
Group chats are the virtual version of such large gatherings, where participants join a conversation, making it more diverse and enjoyable for all. Facebook’s group chats are well-known, but when it comes to making groups, people prefer WhatsApp. WhatsApp is, after all, much more convenient for texting than other social media platforms.
We’ll discuss how WhatsApp groups work and how you can recover a deleted group chat in this blog. We’ll also talk about re-joining a group later.
Is it Possible to Delete WhatsApp Group Permanently?
Let’s first understand how a WhatsApp group works before we discuss how a deleted group can be recovered. Group chat is a digital version of a group of friends or family members hanging out together. Basically, a group facilitates all its members to participate in a conversation together, which makes it more entertaining.
You’d think that a group chat would require at least three members, wouldn’t you? On WhatsApp, you can even create groups with just two members. These people may want to add more participants to the group in the future. Some users, however, use such groups only to share files or have more private conversations.
Is it possible to permanently delete a WhatsApp group? Not really. Suppose you create a WhatsApp group with three people and then decide to end it. What happens to those members? Nothing. You will only be unable to access the group (until you re-join).
The person you added to the group first would automatically become its next admin if you were its admin (which you would be if you created it) and left without having made someone else its admin.
If this second member (the current admin) also decides to leave, the third member of the group will be the only one left in the group. They can also add new members now that they’re an admin. Even if the third person leaves the group, the group will still exist. The message will also appear in the chat list of all three participants unless they delete it themselves.
There’s no way to permanently delete a group. You can only remove yourself from it and delete the chat from your chat list. We hope that clarifies your doubts as we proceed to the main point of our blog.
How to Recover Deleted WhatsApp Group
We discussed how a WhatsApp group could never really be deleted in the last section. In most cases, you can exit a chat or clear it from your WhatsApp, but not really delete it permanently from WhatsApp’s servers, especially when other members are in the group.
That being said, we assume that by “deleting” the group here, you mean deleting it from your chat list. If you need the chat back because it contains important information you’ll need in the future, there are two ways to do it.
In the first method, you will not need anyone else’s help, but in the second, slightly easier method, you will need to ask another group member for help. Both methods will extract the chat for you in a different format.
Let’s learn more about these methods now:
1. Re-Installing WhatsApp and Restoring the Data
This method will only work for you if you regularly back up your WhatsApp data on Google Drive or iCloud.
To get your group chats back, you’ll need to uninstall WhatsApp, reinstall it, and backup all your data from Google Drive. If you back up your WhatsApp data on a daily basis, you must act quickly.
The group chat will be lost forever if you don’t do all of this before your next backup (which occurs at 7 o’clock in the morning).
This method only works if you do it immediately after deleting the chat, not a day or two later. You will need Wi-Fi access to restore your backup since it is a bulk operation. On the plus side, those messages will appear exactly where they disappeared.
2. Getting Chat Exported Through Friend
Even though the above method seems perfect, it might not be possible for many users: those who don’t back up their data, those who don’t have the time, and those who just don’t want to go through the hassle.
This method is for the benefit of these users. Note though that it will not restore your lost chat to its rightful location; it will only provide you with a copy of the chat in a text file.
Here’s how it’s done; you’ll also need a friend’s help. A friend of yours must also be a member of the group. You simply need to ask them to export the group chat for you. You can guide them through the following steps if they don’t know how to do that on WhatsApp:
Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your smartphone. You’ll find yourself on the Chats screen. Here, scroll up to find that particular group chat or type in its name on the search bar located at the top of your screen.
Step 2: Once you find that chat, tap it to view the entire conversation. Then, tap the three-dots icon in the top right corner.
Step 3: You will see a floating menu on your screen after doing that. The last option on this menu is More; tap on it to view more options.
Step 4: On the next screen, you will see four options. Select the third option: Export chat.
Step 5: You will be asked whether to include media files or not next. You’ll also be alerted by WhatsApp if you include media files in your export. Select WITHOUT MEDIA if these media files aren’t important to you; otherwise, choose INCLUDE MEDIA.
When you tap on this option, you’ll see another pop-up menu: Send chat via…
You’ll see various options there, including WhatsApp and Gmail. We mention these two separately because they’re often the easiest ways to export chats. Choose the method that works best for you and your friend.
Once you click on it, you’ll see the option to share this file. After you complete the steps, your friend will soon receive a .txt file containing all the messages (and media) from the deleted group chat.
3. Making a new WhatsApp Group
If the data of your lost WhatsApp group wasn’t important to you, but its members were, how would you cope? In that case, we have a simpler solution for you: Why do not you create a new WhatsApp group with the same members? Therefore, you’ll have a fun place to gossip once again, which is a win-win for everyone.
Is it confusing to you how a new WhatsApp group is created? It’s a simple process and won’t take much time. Here’s what you need to do:
Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your smartphone. On the Chats screen, you’ll notice a floating green message icon and the right-side bottom of your screen; tap on it.
Step 2: Click the contact tab to select a contact. The first option will be: New group. The next time you tap on this option, you’ll be taken to another tab with a list of all your contacts.
Here, you can select all members you want to add to your group either by scrolling or typing their names in search (by tapping on the magnifying glass icon at the top right corner).
Step 3: Once you’ve added everyone, tap on the green arrow icon on the bottom-right corner to proceed.
Next, you’ll be asked to name the group and upload a picture. Adding a group name is more important than adding a picture right away.
Once you’ve added a name, you can tap on the green tick icon at the bottom to create the group. Isn’t it easy to create a new group?
Can You Rejoin WhatsApp Group?
In the previous section, we discussed multiple ways to deal with a situation in which a WhatsApp group chat has been deleted. What if you simply rejoin the group instead? Wouldn’t that be easier and faster?
It is quite easy to rejoin a WhatsApp group, especially when you know the other members well. All you need to do is ask an admin to re-add you. Even if you don’t know who the admin is, you can re-join easily. Recently, WhatsApp introduced a feature that allows users to join WhatsApp groups by using an invite link. Any member of that group can send you this link, so you don’t have to contact the admin directly.
1. From Chat Backup (iOS & Android)
In WhatsApp, users can make regular backups of their chats by using the built-in chat backup feature. On iOS, chat backups are stored on iCloud, while on Android, they are stored on Google Drive. Users can use the backup to restore WhatsApp on new phones or the same phone if they delete the existing data.
- WhatsApp must be deleted and reinstalled after being restored from chat backup. You will only be able to restore chat backups after that.
- To check and restore deleted WhatsApp groups and group messages from chat backups, follow these steps:
- Tap WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Chat Backup to verify that your WhatsApp chats are backed up. It indicates that a chat backup exists if it shows when it was last created.
Reinstall WhatsApp on your phone after uninstalling it. - You need to launch WhatsApp, verify your phone number, and then tap Restore when it says to restore a backup.
As a result, you’ll have access to deleted WhatsApp group messages soon after the WhatsApp chat backup is restored.
From Local Backup (Android Only)
WhatsApp backs up chats locally every day at 2:00 AM. The local backup can still be used to restore WhatsApp data even if you haven’t made a chat backup in iCloud/Google Drive. It also requires deleting and reinstalling WhatsApp. To retrieve deleted WhatsApp group messages on Android from a local backup, follow the steps below:
- Go to WhatsApp > Databases from the internal storage or SD card in the file manager app on your phone.
- Backup file msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 should be renamed to msgstore.db.crypt12.
- Reinstall WhatsApp on Android by deleting and reinstalling it.
- You can restore a backup by launching the WhatsApp app, verifying your phone number, and then tapping Restore.
- You will see that the WhatsApp group has been successfully restored once the backup has been fixed.
Conclusion
A sudden unintentional or intentional deletion of a WhatsApp group is a terrifying situation to deal with. If you have made a prior backup of WhatsApp, you can restore the WhatsApp group and group messages by restoring the backup file.
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