Have you ever experienced a time when you deleted a message either out of anger or by accident, only to regret it later on because the message was important? Well, this mistake happens to most of us, and sometimes it can be unavoidable. At the moment, once you delete a message or a chat thread of Facebook Messenger, there’s no easy way for you to retrieve those messages. This isn’t a feature that’s readily available on the app.
But fortunately, technology has advanced greatly since the initial release of the Facebook Messenger app, and there are some loopholes you can check out to try and recover any of your deleted messages. In this article, we’ve listed some methods to help you.
Use Your Device’s File Explorer
In case you didn’t know, your device actually always has data of your apps stored in its memory. As such, you can try and recover your deleted messages from there. To do so, follow the steps below:
1. Look for your device’s File Management Application. Most, if not all, Android devices should have this.
2. Once you’ve found this app, head over to the storage section.
3. Find the folder labeled Android.
4. Then, select the Data folder.
5. Tap on Cache and then the fb_temp folder.
There’s a high possibility that you’ll find the deleted messages stored here.
Download Your Facebook Data
Another option you can try is to download your Facebook data. You see, Facebook’s servers tend to save deleted messages for a limited amount of time. So once you’ve noticed that you’ve deleted an important message, try this method immediately because there’s a chance you can still retrieve it.
1. Once you’ve logged into your Facebook account, head over to the Settings option.
2. From there, select Your Facebook Information.
3. On the screen, you should see a list of options. Find Download Your Information and then tap on View.
4. You will be redirected to a new page where you’ll be asked how you want to download your data. Select which format you want, media quality, and data range.
5. Scroll down and select or deselect what you want to include in your download. Of course, make sure that the Messages part is checked.
6. From there, you’ll be able to tap on Create File. Facebook will request you to enter your password, after which a file will be created where all your Facebook data will be saved.
7. After this process is complete, Facebook will send you an email containing your data. You will be able to download the contents from there.
Check Messenger’s Archives
There’s a small chance that you chose to archive the important message instead of deleting it completely. If so, then you’ll be thrilled to know that there’s an easy way to recover archived messages.
1. On Facebook Messenger, search for the name of the person whose conversation you want to be retrieved.
2. If you were able to find their name or your chat thread but it’s not readily available in your inbox, there’s a chance you may have archived the conversation.
3. From there, simply tap on Unarchive and your conversation should return to your inbox.
Connect Your Device to Your PC
There’s another method you can do by connecting your Android device to your computer through a USB cable. Make sure that it’s the device you most often use Facebook or Facebook Messenger on.
1. Once your device has been successfully connected, look for the SD card storage or the Internal Storage of your phone.
2. From there, select the Android folder followed by the Data folder.
3. You should see a list of folders. Look for and select the folder titled com.facebook.orca.
4. Afterwards, tap on Cache followed by fb_temp.
5. In this folder, you’ll most likely find messages from your Facebook Messenger. Now, there’s a chance that it will include your deleted messages as well.
Use a Third-Party App
Lastly, if none of the above methods worked, you can try using a third-party application to help recover your deleted messages. There are various third-party apps for this very purpose, so choose the best one that works for you.
Conclusion
The next time you accidentally delete a message from someone, don’t panic! When this happens, feel free to refer to the different methods mentioned above. All the steps are simple and easy to follow, so you shouldn’t have any issues following them. You should be able to retrieve your important messages in no time!
