How to read deleted messages on WhatsApp

WhatsApp recently got arguably the biggest update in a long time: The ability to delete messages for everyone.

The feature is a messiah for a lot of people. Remember all those awkward: "Sorry Wrong Chats", or those Photos in the incorrect groups? They should be history now.

Right?

Unfortunately, not quite.

A very simple Android feature allows you to the read the messages even after they are deleted. The notification log.

The notification log is a summary of all the notifications that you have received on your device. Naturally, any WhatsApp message you get while the app is not open goes through the notification. And the notification is deployed as soon as the message is received. Hence, it does not account for the deletion. Thus, this is not a security flaw or a bug, but rather a very intuitive problem. 

To view the notification log:

--> Download an app which allows you to view the notification history. (Like this one)

--> Alternatively, you can use system Notification log to view this, but the process is different depending on your Launcher and OEM, so you will have to look that up. 

-->Just open the app and view the notification of the message that was deleted.

How it works?

There are some constraints, though. You can only view the text part of the messages. Any media file cannot be accessed through the notification log. Further, only the first 100 characters or so are visible by this method. But I think that is enough to get you a gist of the deleted message. 

What do you think about this feature? Let us know in the comments below.