Deleted WhatsApp on iPhone. Need to Recover Photos and Videos

ronnknee on 31/10/2021 - 20:08
Last edited 31/10/2021 - 20:08

I have a friend who uninstalled their WhatsApp by mistake and didn't enable backup to iCloud. I understand that the messages cannot be recovered. However, I'm thinking maybe the photos and videos can mostly be recovered, assuming they haven't been physically been overwritten in the memory (like on a hard drive using Windows).

I've seen some paid software online but not sure if they're a scam or not. Has anyone had any experience using these types of software and/or any other approach in recovering the photos/videos? Ideally a free approach but if it comes down to it, will probably pay.

I'm a Windows/Android user so please excuse me if I don't understand something.

Mobile

Comments

  • CrispyChrispy on 31/10/2021 - 20:13

    Not on iPhone, but whenever I move from Android to Android, all my Whatsapp media 'move' over as well, as it's all stored on Whatsapp online/in the cloud (not locally). All I have to do is just download them all by scrolling through the chats with the media in them, or it's done automatically, I forgot.

    For example, Whatsapp images from 2017 on my old phone are also on my new phone. Images weren't stored locally, was all in the cloud, meaning I wasn't using an SD card or something to copy over any media. Sorry if this was confusing.

  • apsilon on 31/10/2021 - 20:18
    +2

    I'm not sure if they're removed along with the app but on the internal storage there should be a Whatsapp folder and a media folder under that.

    • AndyC1 on 31/10/2021 - 20:21

      Can you get to this on an iPhone? I know you can on Android.

      • CrispyChrispy on 31/10/2021 - 20:23

        There are file managers for iOS I believe, though I'm not sure if they give as much access as they do for Android file explorers.

      • apsilon on 31/10/2021 - 20:23

        Ah, no idea. I read right over that and just saw the Android bit at the end. Probably not as Apple doesn't like their users to do anything like that.

  • verio on 31/10/2021 - 20:58
    +2

    I doubt that you can do that to be honest.

    It is not possible to get direct access to iPhone's file system without some kind of a jailbreak which ideally should be in place before a deletion takes place. Even then the file system is still encrypted so I guess recovery operations are very problematic.

  • dust on 31/10/2021 - 23:06

    Yep it would be encrypted if it's still there so would be a PITA to recover.

  • porkupine888 on 31/10/2021 - 23:26

    depends on what iphone model n version ios

    the whatsapp videos and photos are a folder /album in photos

  • jaffar on 01/11/2021 - 00:09
    +2

    They deleted app or their account? If it's just the app, then once you reinstall it it'll generate all the previous chat messages and associated media. Or you could always check to see if the whatsapp media folder is still in your phone's internal memory.

  • blonky on 01/11/2021 - 10:24
    +1

    On my iPhone all the Whatsapp media is saved into Photos by default; might be the same case for you

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