This article is for all those people who have lost their important messages on Facebook accidentally by deleting them. The good news for all of you is that even if deleted, your messages are not gone for good.
Whenever you delete any message or anything on Facebook, it does not rashly delete it from its server. But how long does Facebook keep the deleted messages?
Facebook keeps your deleted data, including deleted messages, for 90 days on its server. You can recover and download these messages within 90 days. After 90 days, you may lose them permanently.
This guide will help you find your deleted Facebook messages; let’s begin!
Facebook Messenger – the Second Most Popular Messaging Platform
Facebook Messenger, which was once part of Facebook, is now a separate messaging platform.
Since its inception, it underwent various revamping and transitions to finally becoming an independent platform with separate functionality from Facebook.
Facebook still owns and runs Facebook Messenger, but it has its own website and Apps.
Facebook Messenger is pretty famous on its own as an instant messaging platform. It has more than 1.3 billion active users and is 5th most popular social media platform.
You can send messages, pictures, videos, voice messages, video calls, audio calls, etc., using Facebook Messenger. Many people use this platform to communicate with their friends, families, and acquaintances or to conduct business.
It is the second most popular messaging platform after WhatsApp.
I am sure many of you frequently use Facebook Messenger to communicate with people.
The questions that we are interested in are what happens when you accidentally delete some messages on Facebook Messenger? Does Facebook keep them for some time before deleting them permanently? How to recover them?
Let’s answer each question one by one.
What Happens When You Delete Messages on Facebook & How Long Does It Keep Them?
When you delete any messages from your Facebook messenger, they will disappear from the conversation thread. You will no longer find deleted messages anywhere on your Messenger.
Now, if you have accidentally archived the conversation, it will appear in the archive folder on your Messenger. From that folder, you can retrieve the entire conversation thread.
If you have accidentally deleted the message or entire conversation, then you will lose it from everywhere. Now, the good thing is that you can recover it within 90 days.
Facebook’s known policy is to keep the users’ data on its server for 90 days.
So, even if you decide to delete your Facebook account by getting overwhelmed by the negative impacts of social media on your mental health, know that you can recover it within 30 days of deleting it.
Facebook will, however, keep a backup of your data on its server for 90 days.
So within 90 days of the deletion of your messages, you can recover them, but after that, it is a lost cause. You can try to recover them because you never know if Facebook did not delete them from its storage for some miraculous reason.
Facebook had been accused of helping Cambridge Analytica to influence Facebook users to vote for Donald Trump. According to the sources, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta platform, Facebook, sold the personal data of more than 10 million Americans to Cambridge Analytics.
The company harvested the data to manipulate voters psychologically. This initiated the #DeleteFacebook movement, which forced Zuckerberg to conduct full data forensics.
How To Recover Deleted Messages on Facebook?
First, ensure that your messages are not in the Facebook archive. You can check the archive folder on your Facebook Messenger.
How To View Archive Messages?
Viewing achieved messages is different between devices. We’ll explain below.
On the Mobile App
To view archived messages on the Facebook Messenger mobile app, follow these steps:
- Open the Facebook Messenger app on your mobile device.
- Tap on the profile picture in the top left corner.
- Select the “Archived chats” option.
On the PC
Follow these steps to view arrived messages on the Facebook Messenger website:
- Navigate to Facebook Messenger on your favorite browser.
- Click on “Archived” on the left panel.
Scroll down to find your desired conversation thread. If you do not see it there, then it means you have accidentally deleted it.
If deleted, then you can strive to recover it.
Recovering Deleted Messages on Facebook
As we have discussed, when you delete any data on Facebook, including your messages, it stays on the Facebook server for 90 days. You can recover and download this data from the Facebook server.
On the Mobile App
To download Facebook message data on the Facebook App (Android & iOS), go like this:
- Open the Facebook app on your mobile device.
- Tap on the menu tab in the right corner.
- Click on the settings icon at the top.
- In the “Your Information” section, tap on “Download your information.”
- Unselect all options except “Messages.”
- Scroll down to the “Date Range” section to assign a date.
- Go to the “Format” section to select your preferred format.
- Then click on the “Submit Request” button.
When the data is ready, you will be informed by Facebook. You will find the data in the “Available Copies” tab. You can download it and then view all your Facebook messages in a separate folder downloaded to your device.
When data files are available to download, you will be redirected to the web version of Facebook and asked to enter your login information.
You can view downloaded messages using the Files app for both Android and iOS.
On the Desktop Version
To recover deleted Facebook messages on the desktop version, follow these steps:
- Navigate to Facebook on your favorite browser.
- Click on your profile picture in the top right corner.
- Click on “Settings & privacy.”
- Select “Settings.”
- Select “Your Facebook information” from the left panel.
- Click on “Download Profile information.”
- Uncheck all options except “Messages.”
- Choose the settings and tap the “Submit Request” button at the bottom.
Once your file is available, you can download it and unzip it to view all your Facebook messages.
If you do not find your deleted messages in Facebook data, then know they are permanently deleted, and you have lost them for good.
You can always ask the person to send the messages again, as deleting any message does not affect messages in their Messenger.
The Bottom Line
If you have accidentally deleted messages on Facebook, the good news is that you can recover them within 90 days of deletion.
After 90 days, these messages are most probably gone for good. Your only resort would be to ask the sender to re-send messages.
