What Is Archiving in WhatsApp?

Archiving messages in WhatsApp moves chats from the Chat screen into the WhatsApp archive. Archiving doesn’t delete your messages. Instead, it hides messages from view. This can help you organize better while keeping the messages you want to save. The process of archiving messages is different depending on whether you have an iPhone or Android device.

How to Archive a WhatsApp Chat on iPhone

Archiving messages in WhatsApp can be done from the Chats screen. These instructions apply to individual and group chats.

How to Unarchive a WhatsApp Chat on iPhone

The Archived Chats option is hidden from view when you have open chats. Instead, access Archived Chats either by swiping or searching. You can also unarchive all chats through the WhatsApp settings.

Unarchive Chats by Swiping

A simple swipe is all you need to unarchive chats you’ve sent to the archive. This allows you to view archived chats, just as you would active chats.

Unarchive Chats by Searching

In addition to swiping, you can access archived messages by searching for a person’s or group’s name.

Unarchive All Chats Through the Settings

It’s also possible to unarchive your chats through the WhatsApp settings. Doing this can be helpful if you don’t remember which chats you archived. To do so, select Settings > Chats > Unarchive All Chats. This restores all archived chats to the Chats window.

How to Archive and Unarchive a WhatsApp Chat on Android

Archiving and unarchiving a WhatsApp chat on Android is straightforward, involving only a few steps. Here’s how to do it.

How to Unarchive a WhatsApp Chat on Android

If you archived a chat on WhatsApp and want to put it back into plain view, you can unarchive it. Here’s how it’s done on Android.