WhatsApp recently updated its messenger application to introduce the “Delete for Everyone” feature. With this new feature, users were allowed to recall a sent message in a group or individual chat. However, as per latest reports, WhatsApp is not really deleting the messages and there is a way for the recipient to still read a recalled text.
The powerful face-saving feature was one that users had been much-awaited, but it looks like there’s an easy workaround for it. As per Spanish Android blog Android Jefe, the recalled messages are stored in the notification log of the recipient. So, even after a sender has deleted the message from their end, a recipient could still fish it out from their notification log. “What we found is that the messages are stored in the notification register of the Android system. So, it’s just a matter of entering that record to see the messages that the other person deleted,” the blog states.
For all of you curious stalkers out there, the blog also details how you can access the deleted messages. First of all, you will need a third-party application called Notification History. Once installed, a user can scroll through the messages in the Android notification log. You can also access the notification log by long pressing on the home screen and then clicking on Widgets > Activities > Settings > Notification log.
However, this too has its limitations. As per Gadgets 360, the notification log only saves the messages until the phone has been restarted. Also, you can only access the messages which generated notifications on the phone or had been interacted with. Furthermore, even if you find the message, you can only read it for the first 100 characters.
So, while you can exploit this new “cheat code” for WhatsApp, you clearly can’t have it all.
