Learn how to archive and recover conversations on WhatsApp. See how to do it.
Depending on the number of individual or group conversations, WhatsApp messages can get overwhelming and a bit confusing, especially due to the large number of public messages and chats.
Luckily, the app has features that can do some cleaning. That said, there is an archive and clear chat feature that won’t delete your message history, but it will remove the conversation from your chat list and stop sending notifications. Here’s how it works.
Archived messages
This is a quick way to reduce the number of public chats and keep only the most important contacts and groups on screen. Chats are stored on WhatsApp’s own servers and protected by the same end-to-end encryption that keeps all chats on the app private. But if you want to know how to unarchive a chat, follow the steps below.
How to restore archived messages
Before you know how to unarchive messages, you first need to know how to hide them. To do this, open WhatsApp on your phone and follow the steps.
- Select the “Chats” tab from the bottom menu to open all available chats and groups.
- Now place your finger on the display and wait for one of these chats for at least 1 second.
- When you lift your finger off the screen, a new menu will appear at the top and a “V” icon will appear on the person or group’s profile picture. At this point, you can select more contacts with a single tap.
- To archive a chat, tap the box symbol with a down arrow.
Now that you've hidden one or more conversations, it's time to learn how to bring them back to your WhatsApp home screen.
- Again, in the 'Chats' tab, notice that there is an 'Archived' section above the chat. A tap takes you to another menu.
- Swiping over the conversation will decrypt it and open a new menu at the top of the screen.
- Now, tap on the box icon with an upward arrow.
Now you know how restore messages accidentally archived chats on WhatsApp and bring chats that were hidden (intentionally or not) back to your home screen. The above steps were taken from an Android device, but the tutorial also works on iOS and the results can be viewed on WhatsApp web as well.
Chat channels
Channels are a new tool that WhatsApp has brought to its users. It appears in a separate tab called “Updates”, previously called “Status”. Learn how to create a channel by following the tutorial below.
How to create a channel on WhatsApp
- Update WhatsApp: Make sure you have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on your device.
- Access the “Updates” tab: Open WhatsApp and go to the “Updates” tab on the home screen.
- Create a new channel: Tap the pencil icon in the top right corner of the screen and select the New Channel option.
- Set Channel Name: Enter a channel name. This is the name people see when they find your channel.
- Add a description and image (optional): If you want, you can add a description and image to your channel. This helps users understand the purpose of your channel.
- Create Channel: Tap “Create Channel” to finish creating the channel on WhatsApp.
