Words are carried away by the wind, as long as they are not written on WhatsApp. Sending it was like getting a tattoo, something you'll always like, or yet it'll be there for years to remind you of a mistake.
Then came the option to delete sent messages, a white card redeemable for a second chance for a limited time, perfect for when you send a green meme to the family WhatsApp or a drunk picture to the boss. But... What happens when you become the recipient of "this message was deleted"?
It's annoying not to know what was sent and you want to open that Pandora's box, yes, because from PIXEL we are going to give you some tricks, not miracles, to reveal what was in that deleted message.
Before starting, we must take into account a number of considerations: if you are an iPhone user the only possibility is to pull WhatsApp backup (which we will explain at the end), Android users the possibilities are increased thanks to some apps that recover the messages from the notifications, so if you have the chat open you will not be able to recover it.
VIA APPS
The application itself does not allow you to retrieve deleted messages or conversations. When the sender deletes the sent message, it will disappear from all the mobiles, although this can be reversed. The easiest way is, if you are an Android user, through an app. The most used are WhatsRemoved+ and WAMR, both are in Play Store and their operation is similar, they record the text of the notifications received in your mobile.
You will have noticed that every time you send a message from WhatsApp appears a notification with the text, this is the key to hunt for deleted messages, these applications save all notifications that come from WhatsApp, although we warn, as with the geniuses of mythology (Djinn), this desire granted is not without risk. Just as you violate the privacy of the person who decided to delete the message, these applications will do the same for yours by accessing personal data, contacts, and other information on the phone.
In the case of WhatsRemoved+, it records all the notifications you receive from WhatsApp and other messaging apps whenever they generate a notification, so if you just have WhatsApp open in the conversation where the message was deleted, this will not be possible. WAMR is somewhat more intuitive to use and also allows you to retrieve multimedia content.
Of course, neither of these two apps will be able to recover the messages deleted before their installation, the same as it happens theoretically with time machines, which cannot travel to periods before their creation (that's why no time traveler went to Stephen Hawking's birthday).
ACCESS THE HISTORY
For the more skilled or those who prefer to go the extra mile in exchange for not granting permission to third-party applications, there is a manual option to access the notification history of the mobile phone, although it does not work with all Android phones.
On the desktop of the phone, press and hold (on the background) and press Widget, in the menu look for the one called Settings (remember that it's not available in all models). From this widget (which would be something like an access or small executable to some tasks on the phone) look for and select Notification Log or a similar name.
If this option does not appear or the widget is missing, downloading Nova Launcher from the Play Store and repeating the process will allow you to continue and access the history. From the widget created on the desktop you will be able to see all the WhatsApp messages you have received, locate the deleted ones to access the recovery of their content.
It requires some viewing as well as patience since messages are saved with all the code from the scheduling event and not just the text as it is in the message. To locate them, always look for a text that is preceded by "Android.text". We warn you, with this trick you won't be able to see the messages if they were any kind of multimedia content.
BACKUP (VALID FOR IPHONE)
This form requires a sixth sense like Aramis Fuster or knowing your interlocutor very well and sensing that he is going to delete a message before he does. If you find yourself in that situation, the trick is to make a backup immediately and restore it when the other person deletes the message.
To make the backup go to Settings/Settings in WhatsApp, Chats, Backup and press Save. Then, when the person deletes the message, simply uninstall WhatsApp from the phone and reinstall it by restoring that last backup to see the deleted message again.
Any of these tricks require thinking about it and wasting some time, so if you value the other person's intimacy, perhaps it's best not to try to find out which secrets or photos were removed. You know, curiosity killed the cat.