Technology has granted us a lot of prowess in accessing everything we want. But knowing your way around the latest tech and software can indeed be a hassle. Like for example, Whatsapp is an app we use on a daily basis. Our friends have it, our family members have it and almost everyone we know is on WhatsApp. But oftentimes, while switching between phones, we tend to lose our old WhatsApp messages.
This happens mostly due to careless mistakes we make while using or installing Whatsapp on our new device. When logging in a new device, we usually skip the “restore old media” tab to avoid the time enduring process. Or most commonly, we don’t allow WhatsApp to back-up our chats to save up precious data. However, this negligence is the prime reason why all your messages and media vanishes.
But it is 2020. If the problem is related to technology, there will surely be a way out of it. Retrieving your old WhatsApp messages can be a straightforward process. Below, we have mentioned all the necessary steps and cautions you need to take to retrieve your old WhatsApp messages back.
Retrieve your old Whatsapp messages (Android Devices)
Scenario 1 (If you have the Google Backup)
- Open your Whatsapp and log in.
- Verify the number with the OTP
- Tap the “restore” button to receive all the previously backed-up messages and media
- According to your preference, choose to restore with or without the media
- If you skipped the “restore” screen while logging in, you could also access your chat backup by going to the Setting>Chats>Chat Backup.
- Once the process is completed, click on the “next” button, and you will have your messages back.
Scenario 2 (If you don’t have a Google Backup)
- Our phone tends to store 7 days worth of data in local files.
- To access this data, open your phone’s file manager. Download File Explorers such as Amaze/Astro/CX for Android devices.
- Navigate to the Internal Storage>Whatsapp>Database section. This can be subjective as some people store their data in an sd card rather than using the phone’s internal storage.
- Rename the backup file that you want to restore from msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt12 to msgstore.db.crypt12. In some cases, the backup can be on an earlier version, such as crypt9 or crypt 10. Remember not to change the crypt extension.
- Transfer this file to the new device.
- Uninstall and Reinstall Whatsapp.
- Tap the restore button when prompted.
