You've probably deleted a Facebook message at least once in your life. Maybe you were annoyed at that person, or perhaps you wanted to organize your inbox.

But whatever the reason, the chat is gone from your app and computer forever once you delete it. So, what happens if you need that information back?

You can try various methods to retrieve these messages, or at least what was said in them. This article explains how to recover deleted Facebook messages.

Check if You Archived the Message Instead of Deleting

If you're looking for a whole missing chat, and not just one message missing within the conversation, your first place to go is the archived messages. Since the buttons for Delete and Archive on the app are one below the other, you may have thought you deleted something, when in fact, it's archived.

Follow these steps to find archived messages on your computer:

  1. Navigate to the Facebook site and click on the Messenger icon in the top right.
  2. Pick See all in Messenger.
    see in messenger
  3. Click the icon next to Chats.
    facebook archived chats
  4. Pick Archived chats from the dropdown menu.
  5. Scroll down to see if you can find the message you need.
  6. To return the chat to the inbox, click the three dots icon next to it, and pick Unarchive.

There are two ways to find archived messages in the Messenger app. The first is to search for the names of the other people in the chat. Follow the steps below to do this:

  1. Launch the Messenger app on your phone.
  2. In the search bar, type the name of the person in the missing chat.
  3. If you archived the message, it’ll show below. Tap to view it.

The second way is to go directly to the Archived chats:

  1. Launch the Messenger app.
  2. Tap your profile picture on the top left side.
  3. Scroll down to Preferences and tap Archived chats.
  4. If you find the chat and want to return it to the inbox, long tap and press Unarchive.

If you can’t find the messages you're looking for using this method, you probably deleted them. But don't lose hope—you can still try a few other things.

Recover Deleted Facebook Messages on Android

Android devices store cache data from almost every app you use. So, if you use Messenger on your Android phone, there's a good chance you'll be able to dig deep enough to find the deleted chats:

  1. If you don't already have a file manager installed, download one from the Google Play Store.
  2. Launch it and navigate to Main Storage > Android > data > com.facebook.ocra > cache > fb_temp.
  3. Inside that folder, you can find messages from recent history. Hopefully, you'd be able to locate the deleted message.

Unfortunately, if you use an iPhone, it's much harder to access the phone's backup for Messenger correspondence. In that situation, you may need to try a third-party iPhone data recovery tool.

Get Deleted Facebook Messages From the Other Recipients

If you still can't find the deleted messages, another way to go is to contact the other side of the conversation. When you delete a Facebook chat, it’s gone forever on your end. However, the person you were talking to probably still has a copy.

The same goes for individual messages. As long as you pressed Remove for You, instead of Unsend, the other person will still have a copy. The easiest thing to do is to ask them for a screenshot of the conversation or to resend it to you by copying and pasting.

If you need the information for official purposes, such as proving that you were talking to someone at a certain time, you can ask them to download a copy of their Facebook data.

Remember, though, that they don’t have to share all the information with you, and can pick and choose what to download and send over.

Recover Deleted Facebook Messages from Your Backup

Unlike what some sources may report, Facebook doesn't keep your deleted messages for 90 days in the backup. Once deleted, they're gone. But if, by a stroke of luck, you created a backup before you deleted what you're looking for, it'll still be there.

Here's where you can find all of your backup files:

  1. Open Facebook on your desktop and click your profile picture at the top right-hand corner of the page.
  2. Pick Settings & privacy from the menu, and then pick Settings again.
    Facebook Settings
  3. Click Privacy in the left-hand menu.
  4. Then click Your Facebook information on the menu.
  5. Click View, next to Download Profile information.
    Download Facebook information
  6. On this screen, you'd be able to see your most recent backups, which might include your deleted messages.
    Recent backup files on Facebook
    Screenshot Tal Imagor, no attribution required

It's important to note that Facebook only saves these files for a few days after your request. So if your backup is more than a week old, you won't be able to download it.

As a final Hail Mary, you can search your computer to see if you saved the backup somewhere there. The file name will usually be facebook-[your username in one word].zip.

Avoid Losing Your Messages in the Future

To stop this situation from happening again, you can save a backup every few months, so you can have a file to go back to.

  1. Follow stages 1-5 from the previous section to get to Download Your Information screen.
  2. Click Request a download.
    Request a backup download on Facebook
  3. Select the profiles you want to back up. You can do this for Instagram messages as well.
  4. Click Select Types of Information.
  5. Put a checkmark next to Messages, and click Next.
    select information to download on Facebook
  6. In Date Range, pick how long back you want to go.
    submit request to download Facebook Info
    Screenshot Tal Imagor, no attribution required
  7. Click Submit Request.

This will take a few minutes or longer, depending on the amount of data. Once the backup is finished, you'll receive an email, and you can download the file from the same location.

Now You Know How to Retrieve Deleted Facebook Messages

So, can you recover deleted Facebook messages? On some occasions, yes. But only in a limited number of cases.

Even if you like everything to be completely organized and easy to access, it doesn’t mean you need to delete old messages. This goes for any messaging software—not just Facebook Messenger.

Most places offer an archive option, which keeps your main inbox neat, but still allows you access to that information in the future if you need it. Utilize these to ensure that your messages are available.