How to See Deleted WhatsApp Messages on iPhone
Short answer: on iPhone, you can only see a deleted message if its text was saved beforehand. Since iOS 27, the Shortcuts app can pass each notification to another app the moment it arrives. NotiKeep uses this to save the text on your iPhone. If the sender later deletes the message for everyone, the text stays in NotiKeep. Messages that arrived before setup, photos, voice messages, and muted chats aren’t included, and you need iOS 27 or later.
Seeing “This message was deleted”?
That’s what WhatsApp shows when someone deletes a message for everyone. On iPhone, WhatsApp itself doesn’t keep the original text, and the notification disappears too. The only way to read it is if the text was saved earlier, at the moment the notification arrived.
With NotiKeep set up, open the conversation in the app: the message is still there, exactly as it arrived. This works for messages deleted for everyone by the sender, as long as they triggered a notification on your iPhone. If you want, touch and hold the message and choose Mark as deleted; the original text stays saved.
Only works on iOS 27 or later. On iPhone 11 and iPhone SE (2nd generation) or newer, update in Settings › General › Software Update. iPhone XR, XS, and earlier can’t get iOS 27. See the list of models.
Why this wasn’t possible on iPhone before
On Android, apps like WAMR ask for access to the phone’s notifications and keep a copy of every message. iPhone never offered that access: one app can’t read another app’s notifications, and iOS has no notification history. That’s why, up to iOS 26, guides on this topic concluded there was no way to do it on iPhone other than restoring a backup.
What changed in iOS 27
iOS 27, released on September 14, 2026, added an automation called Notification to the Shortcuts app: “When I receive a notification from [app]”. It runs on its own when the chosen app sends a notification and passes along the title, subtitle, text, date, and source app. An app can receive that data through a Shortcuts action and save a copy.
NotiKeep is one of those apps. It comes with a ready-made shortcut and saves every notification in the background, without opening anything on screen.
Step by step
- Install NotiKeep on an iPhone running iOS 27 or later.
- Open the app and tap Set up. Tap Add to Shortcuts, choose Shortcuts, and confirm the import of Salvar no NotiKeep.
- In Shortcuts, open Salvar no NotiKeep, tap Edit, then the trigger’s › arrow, and turn on Automation.
- WhatsApp is already selected in the trigger. Tap + to add other installed apps. Leave the filters empty to save everything.
- Ask someone to send you a message. It shows up in the Recents tab in NotiKeep a few seconds later.
From then on, if someone deletes a message for everyone, open the conversation in NotiKeep. The text that arrived in the notification will be there.
What we tested with WhatsApp on iOS 27
We sent messages from another phone to an iPhone with NotiKeep set up and checked what reached the app.
| In WhatsApp | What happens in NotiKeep |
|---|---|
| Text message | Saved in about 2 seconds, with the sender, conversation, and time. |
| Message deleted for everyone | WhatsApp doesn’t send any notification; it only removes the one already on screen. The original message stays saved in NotiKeep, with no “deleted” label. |
| Edited message | Arrives as a new notification with the full edited text. NotiKeep saves it as a separate message. |
| Group message | The title shows who sent it and the subtitle shows the group. NotiKeep files it under the group conversation. |
| Photo, video, or voice message | Only the text WhatsApp puts in the notification, such as the note that a photo was sent. The file never reaches Shortcuts. |
Can you see deleted messages without an app or a backup?
No. Without an app that saved the notification beforehand, the only way to see a deleted message again on iPhone is to restore a WhatsApp backup made before it was deleted. Recovering it without a backup and without an app isn’t possible: the text isn’t stored anywhere on the iPhone.
Be wary of apps and websites that promise to recover any deleted message. No iPhone app can read WhatsApp or bring back something that wasn’t saved first.
What you can’t recover
- Only saves the text shown in the notification.
- Photos, videos, and audio aren’t saved.
- Profile photos aren’t saved.
- It doesn’t detect edits and deletions on its own. You can mark a message as edited or deleted, and the original text stays saved.
- Muted chats and notifications without previews aren’t captured, because they don’t include the text.
- Anything that arrived before setup isn’t captured.
Other options on iPhone
Notification Center
It shows the notification as long as it hasn’t been opened or cleared. In our tests, when a message is deleted for everyone, WhatsApp removes the notification too. So it only helps if you see it in time.
WhatsApp iCloud backup
If the last backup was made before the message was deleted, restoring it brings the message back. To do that, you have to delete and reinstall WhatsApp, and your whole chat history goes back to the state of the backup.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see a message that was deleted before I installed NotiKeep?
No. NotiKeep only saves notifications that arrive after the automation is turned on. For older messages, the only option is a WhatsApp backup made before the message was deleted.
Will the sender know I saw the deleted message?
NotiKeep doesn’t communicate with WhatsApp. It only stores the text that arrived in the notification, on your iPhone, and reading in NotiKeep doesn’t send a read receipt.
Does it work on iPhone 11, 13, or 15?
It works on any iPhone running iOS 27 or later. What matters is the iOS version, not the model: iOS 27 runs on iPhone 11 and later and on iPhone SE (2nd generation) or newer. iPhone XR, XS, and earlier can’t get iOS 27, so they can’t run NotiKeep.
Does it work in group chats?
Yes. In groups, the notification includes who sent the message and the group name, and NotiKeep organizes messages under the group conversation.
Does NotiKeep tell me when a message is deleted?
No. When someone deletes a message for everyone, WhatsApp doesn’t send any notification, so there’s no way to know automatically. The original message stays saved, and you can mark it as deleted in NotiKeep to remember later.
What about deleted Instagram and Telegram messages?
NotiKeep saves notifications from any app you choose in the trigger, including Instagram and Telegram. If a message is deleted later, the saved text stays in NotiKeep. The detailed tests were done with WhatsApp.
Do I need to keep NotiKeep open?
No. The Shortcuts automation runs in the background and saves each notification without opening the app.