How to recover deleted photos from WhatsApp

If you cleaned your phone and lost your images and videos, don’t worry: when you remove a file, Android doesn’t completely delete your media from the device’s internal memory. Stay with me and see how to recover deleted photos from WhatsApp without using any program, with the help of a file manager, or with the cloud (using the automatic backup from Google Drive or iCloud).

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How to recover WhatsApp photos without using apps

The walkthrough below was done on a Samsung A52s 5G. However, the process should be similar on other Android devices.

1. Access your phone’s file folder: On your mobile, search for “ My files ” or “ Files ” ;
2. Go to “Internal Storage”: In “My files”, search for “ Internal Storage ” and click on the folder;
3. Go to “Media”: Scroll until you find the “ Android ” folder, tap on it and then on “ Media” ;
4. Enter “WhatsApp”: Still, in the folders inside “Android”, select “com.whatsapp ” and “ WhatsApp ”;
5. Choose the type of file to be recovered: If you want to recover photos, click on “ WhatsApp Images ”; if it is video, in “ WhatsApp Video ” and so on;
6. Move this file to another folder: Select the media you want to recover, click on the share option in the lower-left corner of the screen and choose your destination (“Photos”, “Gallery”, “Downloads”, among others).

Recover Photos with File Manager

In case you didn’t get it with the above option, you can do it with the help of a file manager or data cleaning app. Today, we’re going to see how to do it with the File Manager, available for Android phones, but there are other similar apps, even for iPhone users. With the tool, it is possible to access folders from internal memory.

1. Download File Manager: Open the Play Store and search for the application; click on it and then on “ Install ”;
2. Access the “WhatsApp” folder: Open the app and in “Internal Memory” search for “ WhatsApp ”; then click on the option to open the folder;
3. Go to “WhatsApp Images”: In “WhatsApp”, click on “Media” and then on “ WhatsApp Images ”;
4. Recover your image: Select the image you want to recover, click the share icon in the upper right corner and choose the file destination.

Recover files using Google Drive

If none of that works, you can restore your Google Drive message backup (if you have enabled automatic backup of chats and exchanges of photos and videos).

Be aware that if you want to restore deleted photos and videos, you should not make a new backup before restoring, or WhatsApp will restore the backup you just created on your phone (without the photos or videos that are searching).

1. Open “Settings”: Access your phone’s menu and look for “ Settings ” (gear icon) — if you drag the notifications area down, the option will also appear in the upper right corner of the screen;
2. Go to “WhatsApp”: Scroll down and click on “ Applications ”; then click on “ WhatsApp ”;
3. Clear application data: Select “Storage” and click on “Clear data” in the lower-left corner; Android will ask for confirmation, click “OK”;
4. Re-login to WhatsApp: Open WhatsApp again, enter your phone number (the same) and click “Next”; then enter the validation code to continue;
5. Restore your backup: Messenger will check for any backup automatically; when it appears on the screen, tap on “ Restore ” — if the process takes a long time, it is worth closing the app and opening it again.

Recover Photos Using iCloud

iPhone owners can also retrieve their photos from iCloud — Apple’s cloud. So, first of all, check if there is an active automatic backup:

1. Go to “Settings”: Open WhatsApp and click on “Settings”, in the lower right corner;
2. Confirm the backup status: Click on “Chats” and then on “Chats Backup” and check if there is any active backup.

If you don’t have it, you won’t be able to restore it, but remember that you can still enable automatic backup in the future. It’s also important to check the date of the last backup, to make sure it has what you want to recover.

If everything is ok, follow the steps below:

1. Uninstall WhatsApp: Search for the app on your phone, click on it and hold it down; when the options appear, click on “ Remove app ” and then on “Delete”;
2. Install WhatsApp again: In the App Store, search for WhatsApp and download again ;
3. Log into the app: Open the messenger, include your phone number and click “Next”;
4. Recover your files: Click “Recover” to restore what is saved in iCloud backup.

By following these steps, you will be able to get back that special photo or video you wanted so much.