How long does WhatsApp store undelivered messages?

How long does WhatsApp store undelivered messages?

I'm on my quest of understanding WhatsApp and I could not get information on how long does WhatsApp store undelivered messages before they are deleted permanently?

WhatsApp stores messages on its server for 120 days. If your account is inactive and you have not accessed the messages in 120 days, WhatsApp will delete your text messages, images and videos and any other chats that you are a part of.

Note that this is different from the disappearing messages feature.

When you turn on disappearing messages, you can choose how long messages will stay before they automatically disappear.

You can set them to disappear after 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days from the time they are sent, unless you choose to keep a particular message.

It's important to note that this selection only applies to new messages in the chat and doesn't affect previous messages you have sent or received.

You have the option to enable disappearing messages for all of your chats or choose specific chats where you want this feature.

Disappearing messages can be kept in a chat so that they won't disappear at the set time. If you want to learn more about keeping messages, you can find additional information.

In an individual chat, either person can turn disappearing messages on or off. In a group chat, any participant of the group can enable or disable disappearing messages. However, a group admin has the authority to change the group settings and allow only admins to control the disappearing messages feature.

If you don't open WhatsApp within the specified time period (24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days), the message will disappear from the chat.

However, you may still see a preview of the message in your notifications until you open WhatsApp.

When you reply to a message, the original message is quoted to provide context. If you reply to a disappearing message, the quoted text might still remain in the chat even after the chosen duration has passed.

If a disappearing message is forwarded to a chat where disappearing messages are turned off, the message will not disappear in the forwarded chat.

If you create a backup of your messages before a message disappears, the disappearing message will be included in the backup. However, when you restore from a backup, the disappearing messages will be deleted.

In certain countries, disappearing messages are not available for payment or order-related messages. However, you can still individually delete these messages from your own chat history.

How to preserve messages and chats for longer time?

Thankfully, WhatsApp allows a backup feature that allows you to backup all your chats along with media (photos, videos and contacts) safely to your Google Drive. Here’s how to do that-

To set up Google Drive backups for WhatsApp, follow these steps:

  1. Open WhatsApp on your device.

  2. Tap on the "More options" menu (usually represented by three dots) located at the top right corner of the screen.

  3. From the dropdown menu, select "Settings."

  4. In the Settings menu, tap on "Chats."

  5. Now, select "Chat backup."

  6. You'll see an option to back up your chats to Google Drive. Make sure it is not set to "Never" and choose a backup frequency that suits your needs.

  7. Next, you need to select the Google account to which you want to back up your chat history. If you haven't connected a Google account yet, you will be prompted to tap on "Add account" and enter your login credentials to link a Google account.

  8. Lastly, tap on "Back up over" to choose the network you prefer for performing backups. This allows you to select whether you want to use Wi-Fi only or include mobile data as well for backups.

I hope this helps you. Let me know if you need help.

Replies

  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    I checked the Whatsapp official website, and under the "legal" category they've mentioned that -

    If the recipient is not online, the undelivered message is held in WhatsApp’s server until it can be delivered. If the message is undelivered for thirty (30) days, the undelivered message is deleted from our servers. Once a message has been delivered, it no longer resides on our servers. The contents of any delivered messages are not kept or retained by WhatsApp — the only records of the content of any delivered messages reside directly on the sender’s and recipient’s mobile devices (and which may be deleted at the user’s option).
    You can check it here - #-Link-Snipped-#

    In case you are wondering about the files sent and received over Whatsapp, they've further mentioned that -

    WhatsApp may retain date and time stamp information associated with successfully delivered messages and the mobile phone numbers involved in the messages, as well as any other information which WhatsApp is legally compelled to collect. Files that are sent through the WhatsApp Service will reside on our servers after delivery for a short period of time, but are deleted and stripped of any identifiable information within a short period of time in accordance with our general retention policies.
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    Has anyone had any experience with the undelivered messages? Do whatsapp pending messages automatically get deleted after 30 days?
    Wondering if anyone here has tested it.
  • Karthick S
    Karthick S
    From my experience i guess it's not 30 days it's 16 months.. (Today is 09/05/2015 i have messages till 09/01/2014 in my chat history)
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# It is about 'undelivered' messages. Not all messages you sent or received.
  • Karthick S
    Karthick S
    #-Link-Snipped-# I have undelivered messages available till 18/05/2014
  • darkxblade1
    darkxblade1
    #-Link-Snipped-# You don't understand. The question is, how long the WhatsApp server will keep the message before it could be delivered to the recepient? It doesn't matter whether the sender has the sent messages in their phone or not. If the recipient doesn't come online for 30 days, he will never get your message. But your phone will still show a single tick (not failed).
  • roberto3333
    roberto3333
    I had a case of a message delivered 8 days later, i send it dec 9 to a phone that was no longer being used, in december 17, the person got online and recived it.
    However, in a recent experience, i send one message in jul 11, the person got online on aug 8, and didnt recived it. It could be that i was blocked, but i could still see the status of the user the whole time.
  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# - If you have been using the latest version of WhatsApp and enabled Backup WhatsApp Messages On Google Drive; you'd have all your messages, videos and photos backed up.

    That said, are you able to send messages to a group?
  • MUNEEB UR REHMAN
    MUNEEB UR REHMAN
    Kaustubh Katdare
    I'm on my quest of understanding WhatsApp and I could not get information on how long does WhatsApp store undelivered messages before they are deleted permanently? I'm aware that WhatsApp does not store the messages that have been delivered to the recipient. My best guess is that the app itself stores messages for about 7 days; so that you can browse your history and retrieve messages whenever you want.

    But when a message is sent and is yet to be delivered to the recipient, does WhatsApp have any policy guideline that indicates how long they'll store messages before they are permanently deleted from their servers? Does WhatsApp notify the original sender of the message that the message was not delivered and has been deleted from their servers? Is there any warning message?

    Curious to get answers to all the questions above. Waiting for your responses!
    Dear Sir,
    I am doing job in Kingdom of SAUDI ARABIA ,Basically i am facing one problem,mistakenly I sent my personal messages at my friends Whats app number,good is that he also lost his sim,so message is Undelivered to him he is also living in abroad he'll go back to his country after 02 months- is he'll recieved these messages or not?-
    Your quick response is highly appreciated.

    Best Regards,
    Engr.Muneeb Ur Rehman
    009666590854455
    #-Link-Snipped-#
  • MUNEEB UR REHMAN
    MUNEEB UR REHMAN
    Dear Mam,
    I am doing job in Kingdom of SAUDI ARABIA ,Basically i am facing one problem,mistakenly I sent my personal messages at my friends Whats app number,good is that he also lost his sim,so message is Undelivered to him he is also living in abroad he'll go back to his country after 02 months- is he'll recieved these messages or not?-
    Your quick response is highly appreciated.

    Best Regards,
    Engr.Muneeb Ur Rehman
    009666590854455
    #-Link-Snipped-#
  • Tribikram Mishra
    Tribikram Mishra
    My Personal Experience is It Gets delivered once its send from sender to server.
    During my exams i had uninstalled it for 2months yet I received each texts after installing around 30k messages including personal to groups.
    I am not sure about the recent updates they have made but it was like this beforehand.
    I Guess my answer was helpful😀
  • Tribikram Mishra
    Tribikram Mishra
    muneeb87
    Dear Sir,
    I am doing job in Kingdom of SAUDI ARABIA ,Basically i am facing one problem,mistakenly I sent my personal messages at my friends Whats app number,good is that he also lost his sim,so message is Undelivered to him he is also living in abroad he'll go back to his country after 02 months- is he'll recieved these messages or not?-
    Your quick response is highly appreciated.

    Best Regards,
    Engr.Muneeb Ur Rehman
    009666590854455
    #-Link-Snipped-#
    I guess he won't unless he get the same sim number and sign in to the whatsapp through same number.
  • MUNEEB UR REHMAN
    MUNEEB UR REHMAN
    Tribikram Mishra
    My Personal Experience is It Gets delivered once its send from sender to server.
    During my exams i had uninstalled it for 2months yet I received each texts after installing around 30k messages including personal to groups.
    I am not sure about the recent updates they have made but it was like this beforehand.
    I Guess my answer was helpful😀
    OMG dear please I need confirm answer...thanks for your quick response
  • Tribikram Mishra
    Tribikram Mishra
    Tribikram Mishra
    I guess he won't unless he get the same sim number and sign in to the whatsapp through same number.
    Well for confirmation ASAP you can ask the whatsapp customer support service.
    I will provide if i get any further helpful answer from any source.
    Thank You😉😉😉😉
  • Tribikram Mishra
    Tribikram Mishra
    muneeb87
    OMG dear please I need confirm answer...thanks for your quick response
    Hi,

    Thanks for contacting WhatsApp. Your request has been received.

    The solutions to most issues can be found by searching our FAQ: #-Link-Snipped-#

    Please understand that we prioritize reports of issues with the application and provide a comprehensive FAQ to solve most other questions.

    If you have not done so, please provide the following:

    1. Your phone number (+ Country Code Phone Number)
    2. Your device model
    3. Screenshots of the issue if applicable
    If you are having problems with sending or receiving messages, photos or videos, making calls or even updating your profile, there is most likely a problem with your phone’s internet connection. We suggest that you try to connect to a different network to see if the issues have been resolved or get in touch with your provider for assistance.

    To add any updates to your request, please respond to this email. We are here to help!

    --
    WhatsApp Support Team

    You can contact them through mail and they do respond quickly.

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