How to recover disappearing photos on WhatsApp

Monitoring Desk

CALIFORNIA: If you are a regular WhatsApp user, you probably already know most of the WhatsApp deleted photo recovery features. However, if you lose a picture or file from a chat, it can be difficult to get it back. This is because the file will not appear in the conversation when a user deletes an image from a WhatsApp conversation. And by default, it may not appear in the Gallery app on your phone either.

If you are in this situation, there are several options to recover deleted WhatsApp photos from your application. For deleted WhatsApp photo recovery, you need to know that WhatsApp stores all messages and images locally. Unlike other platforms that keep a copy of these messages on their servers.

At the same time, it ensures user privacy by avoiding any copy of messages in the cloud. It also means that recovering deleted photos from WhatsApp is now more difficult when accidentally deleted. Sometimes users delete the messages or images from the application. Or at other times, we lose them when changing phones or doing a factory reset.

In applications like Instagram, all messages are transmitted from the cloud server. With WhatsApp, however, you can also lose all your important messages and images if you have not activated automatic cloud backup. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent this from happening and minimize the risk of losing all of your photos.

Recover WhatsApp images that were saved automatically

By default, on both Android and iPhone, WhatsApp will automatically download images from your chats to your device. Therefore, the first place you need to check to recover deleted WhatsApp photos is the photos app on your phone. On Android, take a look at the Gallery or Google Photos app. IPhone users should look in Photos. To help narrow your search, switch to the Albums tab and search for WhatsApp. You can also use your gallery app’s search tools to check the time the image was posted, if you know it.

If you find your deleted WhatsApp photo, you’re in luck! You still have a copy and you can send it or share it wherever you want. In case you don’t see the photo here, but use cloud storage on your phone, there is still hope. If you use the camera upload function of your cloud storage app, there is a possibility that WhatsApp will download the image automatically and then your cloud storage app will upload it automatically. Check inside Camera Uploads, Camera Roll, or a similar folder on your cloud storage and you might find the image inside.

Recover someone else’s WhatsApp images

Recovering deleted WhatsApp image may be easier than you think. The next thing to check is that the person (or people) you spoke to have a copy of the message with the lost media attached. If you uploaded an image and then deleted it, someone else in the group chat (or your chat partner) might have it.

Ask the person to find the image in your WhatsApp chat. When they have it, they can forward the image to you or even save it to their phone and share it via email or other messaging service. Just because you’ve tapped “Delete for me” on a photo on WhatsApp doesn’t mean it’s gone for everyone. WhatsApp only shows the “Delete for everyone” option for about an hour after sending a message, making it more difficult to accidentally press.

We recommend asking people to restore images as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the more likely the other person will delete the image, lose it when you switch to a new phone or something similar.

Restore deleted photos from a WhatsApp backup

When no one else has a copy of your deleted image, the next best way to recover lost WhatsApp photos is with a backup. Both the Android and iOS versions of WhatsApp support backups (to Google Drive or iCloud). If you haven’t lost the photos in a long time, the best thing to do is to restore your latest WhatsApp backup.

To do this, of course, you must have the WhatsApp backup function activated before deleting the image. If you haven’t done a backup in the past, this won’t work for you.

First, go to Settings> Chats> Chat Backup. Here you can view information including when the last backup was taken and how often you want to back up your data. If you have deleted the images since the last backup, you can uninstall WhatsApp and reinstall it to restore the backup and thus restore your images.

Just uninstall the app from your device and reinstall a fresh copy from the App Store or Google Play. You will need to confirm your phone number again, then you will be asked to restore your data from a backup, if available. Accept this and WhatsApp will restore all your messages to the way they were when the backup was made.

Keep in mind that this will cause you to lose all the WhatsApp messages exchanged since your last backup. So, make sure to save your important messages before restoring the previous backup to get your pictures back. Again, time is of the essence. If there was a backup after deleting the photos, you are probably out of luck.

Recover deleted WhatsApp photos from your phone storage (Android)

By default on Android, WhatsApp saves all the images it sends and receives and places them in a specific folder. So you can delete an image from a chat and still have it on your phone in this folder. Download a free Android file explorer app such as Google Files, then go to the following folder: Internal memory> WhatsApp> Media> WhatsApp images.

Here you will see all the images that you have received on WhatsApp. There is a Sent folder inside it that contains the images you have sent. Examine it and see if your missing photos from WhatsApp are inside. If you are looking for a media type other than photos, you will also see WhatsApp Video and other folders here; be sure to check them out.

Unfortunately, this step is not an option for iPhone users. This is because Android lets you explore much of the device’s local folder hierarchy, while iOS’s Files app is limited to a few cloud folders.

If you google for help with WhatsApp image recovery, chances are you will come across dozens of programs that promise a solution. Although they sound great, the reality of recovering WhatsApp photos in this way is daunting.

As with the recovery of deleted WhatsApp messages, the vast majority of these “recovery software” will not help you. WhatsApp Image Recovery is a bit different from normal text message recovery, but all of these programs still have the same major issues: they need root access (on Android), they don’t work without payment, or both.

These recovery programs are all similar. They claim that they can retrieve your messages by installing software on your desktop and connecting your phone. Then when you run the programme, you don’t get any results, you see that the application needs root access or you have to pay to restore.

Do you already have the latest update? WhatsApp? Although it brings several novelties, there is a detail that bothers many and it is that some time ago the app belonging to Meta integrated its controversial function of photos and videos that disappear.

How do I go about seeing them again? Although there is no official cheat WhatsAppmore than taking a screenshot, today we will show you the simple step so that you can once again see that image that your friend intends to hide and that you do not want to be saved in your gallery.

HOW TO LOOK AGAIN AT THE PHOTOS THAT ARE ONLY SEEN ONCE ON WHATSAPP

  • The first thing will be to download the WhatsApp Plus program.
  • The modified app allows you to see the photos or videos that are only seen once as many times as you want.
  • Once the APK has been downloaded, which can be from any page, you must enter your phone number.
  • At that moment you will receive your verification code.
  • Now write to that contact and strongly ask them to send you that image or clip again.
  • Before opening it, go to Settings.
  • Then to WhatsApp Plus Settings.

In this way, the photos that are only seen once in WhatsApp will never disappear again. (Photo: MAG – Rommel Yupanqui)

  • There, go to Privacy and check the option “See photos that disappear more than once”.
  • If you can’t find it, you can also search for it as “Turn off photos that are seen once”.
  • With this, when they send you the video or photo in question, it will not disappear from your conversations.
  • You can even save them on your cell phone as you wish.

WHY YOU SHOULD CLEAR THE CACHE OF WHATSAPP

  • First of all, clearing the WhatsApp cache will serve to free up some space on your mobile device. Many times this tends to weigh more than 1 GB.
  • Likewise, deleting the cache of the app will also prevent the application from suffering from errors or certain bugs.
  • Similarly, if you wish to do so, you will also delete certain junk files that have only been used to update or install WhatsApp.
  • It should be noted that by clearing the cache you will not be deleting documents, much less photos, videos or chats.
  • It also does not work to log out of the fast messaging app. In case you want to do it, you must click on “force close”.
  • To delete the cache you must go to Settings, Applications and search for WhatsApp.

WhatsApp deleted photos can be restored from a phone's internal storage and backup. So, here is how to restore deleted photos on WhatsApp.

As we all know, WhatsApp is the most popular and widely used messaging application that is used for sharing pictures, videos, status, apart from many other things. It is quite handy, when it comes to both personal or even professional purposes. We receive lots of images on WhatsApp from our family and friends. Sometimes we intentionally delete WhatsApp photos to clear the storage of the phone. Unfortunately, sometimes, some very important photos get deleted. If you have been using the app for a long time then you probably would be knowing most of the WhatsApp deleted photo recovery features.

But recovering a picture or file that has been deleted from a chat can be a difficult task. This happens mainly because you delete the WhatsApp photo directly from the app and the file stops appearing in the conversation. Also, by default, the file may not appear in the Gallery app on your phone either. If you have also deleted a picture or file from WhatsApp by mistake then you should know that there are several ways to recover them.

WhatsApp users can note that the application stores all messages and images locally on the phone. And, at the same time, it also ensures user privacy by avoiding storing any copy in the cloud. So, if you have not activated automatic cloud backup then you will lose all your important photos from WhatsApp once they are deleted.

WhatsApp, by default automatically downloads images from your chats to your device either on both Android and iPhone. Therefore you will first have to check photos app on your phone to recover deleted WhatsApp photos. If you are an Android user then you can look at the gallery or Google Photos app. While iPhone users should look in Photos.

However, if you did not find the deleted WhatsApp photos and you use cloud storage on your phone, there is still hope left. You can check inside Camera Uploads, Camera Roll, or similar folder on your cloud storage to find the photos.

2. How to recover your deleted WhatsApp photos from others

So, if you did not find it on your phone, you can check if the person (individual chat) or group of people (group chat) you interacted with has a copy of the message with the lost media attached. You can ask the person to look for the image and send it to you if they have it. However, if you have deleted the image for everyone, it becomes a bit difficult to recover the picture.

3. How to restore deleted photos from a WhatsApp backup

You can find WhatsApp data backup option on both the devices that is Android (Google Drive) and iOS (iCloud). If you do backup your chats and images it will be easy for you to recover them. However, if you have not done a backup in the past, this step will not work for you.

In order to create a chat backup you will have to open WhatsApp on your phone, go to Settings then Chats and then tap on Chat Backup.

4. How to recover deleted WhatsApp photos from your phone storage in an Android device

It can be noted that WhatsApp saves all the images and videos it sends and receives by default on Android and places them in a specific folder. Therefore there are chances that if you have deleted a particular image, you may find it in the internal folder. You need to go to your phone's internal memory then click on WhatsApp then Media and then go to WhatsApp images.

You will be able to find all the images that you have received on WhatsApp in this folder. You can also see a folder by the name of sent where you will find all the images you have sent. However, it can be noted that this step is not there for iOS users.

First Published Date: 31 Dec, 17:24 IST