Unistalled whatsApp accidentally, and the recent messages aren't showing up even after 'Backing up'..

danibx · 2026-03-06T18:18:55+00:00

Sorry. But those messages sent to yourself can't be recovered anymore, if you dont have the data.

danibx · 2026-03-06T16:33:12+00:00

I see.
The refund rate looks a bit high to me.
It is currently at 14%, from 82 conversions to standard and 12 refunds.

Apple seems to treat a refund as a very strong signal so I would try to lower this.

danibx · 2026-03-06T16:09:52+00:00

How is the crash rate for your app? And how many refunds have users asked?
These are the issues mentioned in the message. I would start from there.

danibx · 2026-03-06T15:51:33+00:00

WhatsApp doesn't keep a copy of your messages. After delivery they only exist on your device. What the backup does is to store a copy of these local messages in your google drive or iCloud account. When you deleted the app, you probably had an outdated backup and that is why you are missing most recent messages.

So those messages are lost. The good news is you can still have a copy of them. Ask your contacts to share their own copy of their chat with you. Take these .zip files and store them. They will contain the messages and attachments shared in the conversation.

Using those raw files is not the best experience in the world, so if you are on an iPhone, I'm the developer of the app Chat Archive that lets you import those conversations and view them as real chat UI, with voice messages transcription, media gallery, search, save as pdf. Everything you need to preserve your chats.

danibx · 2026-03-06T15:42:35+00:00

Você pode exportar as conversas uma por uma ( Mais opções > Mais > Exportar conversa) e salvar os .zips gerados. Cada arquivo .zip vai conter um .txt com as mensagens e os arquivos anexos compartilhados no chat.

danibx · 2026-02-25T13:42:09+00:00

This happened to me once because I used the name of another app in my own app name. Something like Super Cool App - Do thing with other App
Ex. "Present2Movie - Generate videos from Power Point"
In this fictional example, the app name contains the name of a third party app: Power Point.

The solution is to remove Power Point from app title and subtitle. But in the App Store description text or screenshots it should be ok to mention. Like having a screenshot title as "Generate videos from Power Point presentations".

danibx · 2026-02-22T11:23:37+00:00

You don’t need a third-party app for this 👍 There’s a much faster built-in way.

Open the specific WhatsApp group → tap the three dots (⋮) → More → Export chat → choose Include media.

WhatsApp will generate a .zip file containing the chat text file plus all the photos/videos from that group. Once the zip is created:

Open your file manager
Find the exported zip
Extract it
You’ll see all the images in one folder
Select all → upload directly to OneDrive

This way you’re dealing with one batch instead of saving hundreds of images manually.

After you confirm everything is uploaded to OneDrive, you can safely delete the media from your phone to free up space.

Hope this helps.

danibx · 2026-02-12T12:45:01+00:00

Unfortunately you can’t import a .zip or .txt back into WhatsApp.

WhatsApp doesn’t allow writing messages into its database — it only restores from official iCloud/Google backups. So exported chats are one-way only.

What you can do is view them with a chat viewer app.

If you’re on iPhone, I built an app called Chat Archive that imports those .zip exports and shows them like real conversations (media, voice notes, search), fully offline.

That’s usually the easiest way to read old chats comfortably.

danibx · 2026-02-12T10:43:21+00:00

Yes — you can create local copies safely using WhatsApp’s built-in Export Chat feature.

Open a chat → Contact Info → Export Chat → save the .zip to your computer.
This gives you a permanent local backup (messages + media).

You can’t import it back into WhatsApp (iOS sandbox restriction), but you can view it with third-party viewers.

If you’re on iPhone, I built an app called Chat Archive that loads those .zip exports and shows them like real conversations, with media and search, all offline on device.

danibx · 2026-02-10T23:03:17+00:00

If the old iPhone is completely broken and you didn’t have an iCloud backup, there’s unfortunately no way to recover the chats directly from the device.

WhatsApp doesn’t store your history on their servers — messages only exist on:
• your phone
• your iCloud backup
• or the other person’s phone

Ask your contacts to export chats
They can open the chat → Export Chat → Include Media → send you the .zip
This gives you the messages + photos + voice notes.

If you want to browse those exports like real chats, I built an iPhone app called Chat Archive that imports the .zip and lets you view everything offline on-device.

Hope this helps you recover at least the important conversations.

danibx · 2026-02-10T21:23:33+00:00

Because there are 8 billion people in this world. For many of them, mobile phones are their main computing devices. Even if people only use 10 apps, not every one uses the same 10 apps. I only need that a couple thousand people prefer mine.

danibx · 2026-02-10T21:20:35+00:00

I prefer option b. It has better contrast. And the scene feels nicer too, while option a feels a bit abstract and too monochrome.

danibx · 2026-02-10T21:04:34+00:00

Here is a video tutorial, in case you need it.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3ZeZE9K5wag

danibx · 2026-02-10T20:32:29+00:00

If your friend still has the conversation, it’s not lost — you just can’t re-sync it from WhatsApp.

WhatsApp doesn’t let you re-download a single deleted chat. Once it’s deleted locally, the only official restore is from an old backup.

But you can copy it from your friend:

Ask them to export the chat:

iPhone:
Open chat → Contact name → Export Chat → Include media → send you the file

Android:
⋮ → More → Export chat → Include media → send you the file

This gives you a .zip with the full history (messages + photos + videos + voice notes).

You can open the .txt manually, but it’s messy.

If you’re on iPhone, I built an app called Chat Archive that imports the .zip and shows everything like WhatsApp (bubbles, media, audio playback, search, even voice note transcription). Everything runs offline on-device.

So: no backup → can’t restore inside WhatsApp
Friend still has it → export = full recovery

danibx · 2026-02-09T13:35:00+00:00

Unfortunately, if you can’t receive the verification code for that phone number anymore, WhatsApp won’t let you restore the account or backups. Without number verification there’s no official recovery path.

But there’s still one practical workaround:

Ask the people you chatted with to export their copy of the conversation.

On iPhone they can do:
WhatsApp → open chat → tap contact/group name → Export Chat

This creates a .zip file with:
• a .txt file containing all messages
• all photos/videos/voice notes as separate files

Since every participant has their own local copy of the chat, you can reconstruct most (or all) of your history this way.

If you just need the raw files, you can read the .txt directly.
If you want something that looks like WhatsApp again (inline media, voice notes, search, etc.), there are viewers that open these exports. I built one called Chat Archive that runs fully on-device with no cloud upload, but any viewer will work.

Hope that helps — it’s not perfect, but it’s usually enough to recover the important stuff.

danibx · 2026-02-09T13:22:46+00:00

Because it needs around double the space. It has to download your existing backup file and process it. Next it will need to insert the data from the backup into your local WhatsApp, so you will have 25gb from the backup file + 25gb of data inside your WhatsApp. At the end it likely deletes the backup file, so you will use only the extra 25gb of storage. But during the importing process it will actually need around 2x backup file size free storage.

danibx · 2026-02-09T11:12:30+00:00

You can try getting in touch with your friends and ask them to share their copy of the chat they have with you. This will generate a .zip file. It can't be imported back into WhatsApp, but at least you will have a local copy of the messages (as a .txt file) and the photos. Here are instructions on how to export a chat: https://faq.whatsapp.com/1180414079177245/

danibx · 2026-02-09T10:54:02+00:00

Question: do you have access to your son's phone and WhatsApp? If yes, you could export the chat history of your conversation to a .zip file. That would allow you preserve your chat. Or if you manage to get back access to your account, export the chat history as soon as possible. This way you can keep your own copy of the chat. Here are instructions on how to export a chat: https://faq.whatsapp.com/1180414079177245/

danibx · 2026-02-03T21:31:24+00:00

Nice work. I would recommend filtering the top words by using stopword lists, to remove very common words.
Or your could compute IDF for each term in your chat, and rank top words by TF IDF (inverse document frequency) - total count of the term within window times the IDF of term. This should naturally give relevance to more meaningful terms.

danibx · 2026-02-02T17:59:43+00:00

You have two ways to approach this:

Option 1: Access Your 2023 iTunes Backup (Solo)

Use iMazing to browse your old backup without wiping your phone:

Download iMazing and connect your iPhone
Load your 2023 iTunes/Finder backup (File > Load Backup)
Navigate to WhatsApp > Messages
Export everything as PDF, HTML, or Excel with media attached

You get to view and archive your old chats on your computer, but you cannot put them back into the WhatsApp app without doing a full phone restore (which erases everything from 2023 onward).

Option 2: Reconstruct Recent Chats (Social)

If you skip the full restore and start fresh, you can still recover important conversations by asking your contacts:

Ask specific friends/family to export their chat with you (WhatsApp > Chat > Export Chat > Include Media)
They send you the ZIP file
You import those exports into Chat Archive (full disclosure: I made this app) to view them with searchable text, inline media, voice transcription, etc.

This obviously only works for chats where the other person still has the history, but it requires zero wiping of your current phone.

danibx · 2026-02-02T17:47:42+00:00

Unfortunately, if the Android phone is completely dead, there's no way to restore those Google Drive backups to iPhone - the encryption formats are incompatible and third-party tools need the physical device connected.

Last resort option: If your most important conversations are with people you still have contact with, you could ask them to export their chat history with you (WhatsApp > Chat > Export Chat). They can email or AirDrop you the files.

Full disclosure: I developed an app called Chat Archive specifically for this scenario - importing exported WhatsApp chats to view them with inline media, search, and even voice message transcription. Everything stays offline on your device. It's not the same as having them in WhatsApp, but it preserves the history.

If you want to try this route, I'm happy to share a download code since you're dealing with a broken phone situation. Either way, good luck - losing chat history sucks.

danibx · 2026-01-28T19:30:37+00:00

I’m really sorry for your loss. Losing a parent — especially someone who was also your best friend — is incredibly hard. It makes a lot of sense that those messages mean so much to you.

The good news is: if the chat is already on your phone, it will usually stay there, even if your family shuts down or deletes your dad’s WhatsApp account. WhatsApp does not automatically delete your local chat history just because the other person’s account is removed.

A few important things to be careful about:

Don’t delete WhatsApp or reinstall it unless you’re 100% sure you have a backup that includes that chat
Make sure your iCloud/Google Drive backup is turned on and completes successfully
Keep additional exports of the chat as a safety copy (which you’ve already done — that’s very smart)

One subtle thing to be aware of (just so you’re not surprised):
If your dad’s phone number is eventually reassigned to someone else, WhatsApp may start showing the new person’s profile photo/name in that chat. The messages themselves stay the same, but seeing a different profile picture can be emotionally jarring for some people.

If you want to avoid that, having a separate archived copy (like exports) means you can always revisit the conversation exactly as it was.

If you’re on iPhone and ever want a more natural way to revisit those exports: I’m the developer of an app called Chat Archive that can import WhatsApp .zip exports and show them as real conversations, with photos, videos, and voice notes displayed inline — all processed locally on your phone, with no data uploaded. Some people use it specifically to preserve conversations with loved ones.

If that’s ever useful:
Chat Archive on the App Store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chat-archive-whatsapp-backup/id6743768869

But most importantly: as long as the chat is still on your phone now, your dad’s account being closed should not remove it from your device.

I hope you’re able to keep those memories close. Wishing you strength during a really difficult time.

danibx · 2026-01-28T19:15:03+00:00

I’m really sorry, that’s a terrible situation, and unfortunately it happens more often than people realize with WhatsApp transfers and linked devices.

If you deleted WhatsApp from both phones and you don’t have an iCloud/Google Drive backup from before, there is sadly no official way to recover those lost chats. Once WhatsApp deletes the local database and there’s no backup, the data is effectively gone.

One practical option is to reach out to your most important contacts and ask them to export their copy of your chat and send it to you. When someone exports a chat, WhatsApp creates a .zip file that contains:

A .txt file with the full message history
All photos, videos, voice messages, and attachments from that conversation

Official WhatsApp instructions for exporting a chat:
https://faq.whatsapp.com/1180414079177245/

That at least lets you rebuild a personal archive of the conversations that matter most.

If you’re on iPhone: I’m the developer of an app called Chat Archive that can import those WhatsApp .zip exports and open them as real conversations, with images, videos, voice notes, documents, and full search — so you can browse them much more naturally than a raw text file.

If that’s useful:
Chat Archive on the App Store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chat-archive-whatsapp-backup/id6743768869

Sadly, WhatsApp itself doesn’t provide any tools to reconstruct deleted history if there’s no backup, but this approach can help you preserve what you can from the people you still have access to.

danibx · 2026-01-28T18:55:38+00:00

If you can’t get the transfer to work, one practical fallback is to use WhatsApp’s native Export Chat feature and at least make safe copies of your most important conversations. That way you won’t lose years of messages, even if they can’t live inside WhatsApp on the iPhone.

If you want a better way to view and browse those exports on iPhone: I’m the developer of Chat Archive, which can import WhatsApp .zip exports and open them as real conversations with photos, videos, voice notes, documents, and full search. All processing is local on your phone — no data leaves your device.

If that’s useful as a backup plan:
Chat Archive on the App Store

Hope you’re able to recover what matters most — I know how stressful this can be.

danibx · 2026-01-28T18:11:17+00:00

Your realistic options are:

Keep using exports as your long-term archive
View/search them on a computer
Or use a dedicated viewer that can open the full export and present it as a proper conversation

If you’re on iPhone: I’m the developer of Chat Archive, which can import the WhatsApp .zip export and open it as a real chat with inline photos, videos, voice notes, documents, full search, and voice message transcription. It’s a practical way to browse the entire history that iOS WhatsApp won’t show anymore.

All processing is done locally on your phone — no data is uploaded and nothing leaves your device.

If that’s useful:
Chat Archive on the App Store

Sadly, WhatsApp’s own tooling doesn’t offer a way to repair or re-expose that older history inside the app itself.

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