WhatsApp wiped all my chats, but phone still shows 70 GB used

Last night WhatsApp popped up the “low storage” error and just crashed. I freed up like 2–3 GB and reopened it, only to find all my chats gone..every single contact.

Weird part? My phone settings still say WhatsApp is taking up around 70 GB, so I’m guessing the data’s still there. Even in the “My Files” app I can open old WhatsApp videos, so I doubt it’s corrupted.

Question is.. how do I get my chat history to actually show in WhatsApp again instead of it acting like I just installed it fresh?

Android recovery

All Replies

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

Simon Teal

Participant

August 22, 2025 at 8:56 am

I’m gonna try the manual restore first. But it’s good to know there’s still a plan B if WhatsApp won’t cooperate. Thanks everyone

Orin Thorne

Participant

August 22, 2025 at 8:49 am

Don’t panic if it doesen’t work.. sometimes the database files can be repaired even if whatsapp refuses to read them. I’ve seen data recovery tools for Android that specifically target whatsapp..they basically read the raw .crypt14 file and rebuild the chat history. Saved me once when WhatsApp wouldn’t restore after a crash.

Simon Teal

Participant

August 22, 2025 at 8:34 am

This is making sense now. I just checked and I do have several msgstore files in there. Gonna back them up and try the reinstall + restore method. Fingers crossed.

Nina Calder

Participant

August 22, 2025 at 8:19 am

Also, make sure you have more free space than just 2 GB before doing all this. WhatsApp can be picky during restore..if you’re low on space mid-process, it might fail again. I’d clear up at least 6–8 GB temporarily.

Kael Rowan

Participant

August 22, 2025 at 7:17 am

Reinstalling can wipe data if you’re not careful, but here’s what I did when I had that bug:

1. Go into Internal Storage > WhatsApp > Databases — see if you’ve got files like msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt14.

2. Move the latest one to a safe folder outside WhatsApp’s folder.

3. Uninstall WhatsApp.

4. Reinstall it, before opening it, move that backup file back into the Databases folder.

5. Open WhatsApp and choose “Restore from backup” when prompted.

If the app is still using 70 GB, there’s a good chance the database file is intact.

Simon Teal

Participant

August 22, 2025 at 7:04 am

I think I had daily backups turned on, but only locally and not on Google Drive. But I don’t know how to make whatsapp pull that data again without reinstalling. Won’t reinstalling wipe things?

Silas Vane

Participant

August 22, 2025 at 6:39 am

I had something super similar happen when I was low on space. WhatsApp didn’t actually delete my files, but it messed up the index file that links chats to the app’s display. I had to restore from a local backup to get them back. Do you have daily backups enabled?

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)