How to recover deleted Telegram messages: what can be done

What you can try

Ask the sender to write the message again or forward it: if they did not delete it on their side, they still have it. Look for a copy in a chat export if you made one earlier. Check Saved Messages and your screenshots: sometimes what you need is there.

If you just deleted a message yourself

Right after deleting, Telegram shows an “Undo” button for a few seconds. After that the message cannot be brought back. For a whole chat Telegram gives you 5 seconds to undo, after which, in its words, the chat is lost for good.

Deleted for you or for both: who still has a copy

If a message was deleted only on one side, the other person still has it: Telegram’s privacy policy says a copy stays as part of their message history. Then asking them to forward it or run an export helps. If it was deleted for both sides, no copy is left anywhere except the ones saved in advance. There is no time limit on such a deletion: a message can be erased for both sides even after a year.

Chat export: what it saves

Telegram Desktop can export chat history to HTML or JSON. It saves everything that was in the chat at the moment you ran it, and the file stays with you even if the messages are deleted later. But an export brings nothing back: what was deleted before it is not in the file. How to run an export is described on the page about saving a chat.

Deleted photos and voice messages

Photos, videos, voice messages and files work the same way: after deletion for both sides Telegram does not hand them out. If the bot was connected when they arrived, it has a copy (files up to 20 MB). If not, the same options remain: the other person, an export, and forwarding to Saved Messages in advance.

Why there is no magic button

Telegram describes deleting for both people as final, leaving no trace, and offers no way to bring a message back. So any program that promises to bring back what was deleted for both will either return nothing or pass off as “recovered” something it already had.

How not to lose the next ones

Connect the bot to the private chats you care about: at the next deletion or edit it saves a copy and sends you a card.

Be careful with recovery apps

Apps and services that promise to bring back deleted messages may ask for your login code or access to your account. Some of them need your session to work, which means full access. Never share a code from Telegram with anyone. Flashback asks for neither a code nor a password: the bot connects inside Telegram through Chat Automation. More about clients that promise to keep deleted messages is on a separate page.

More questions

Is there a program that brings back a deleted message?

No: once a message is deleted for both sides, Telegram does not hand it out. Only a bot connected before the deletion can have saved a copy.

How long does the bot keep what it saved?

7, 30 or 60 days, then the archive is deleted automatically.

Will a chat export help?

Only partly. An export is a copy of what the chat held at the moment of export. A message that made it into the export stays in the file even if it is deleted later. But what was deleted before the export is not in the file, and a new export will not bring it back.

How do I get deleted photos and videos back in Telegram?

The same way as text: if they were deleted for both sides, they cannot be brought back. A copy held by the other person, an earlier export, or a bot that was connected when they arrived can help.

Can I recover a message deleted more than 24 hours ago?

If it was deleted for both sides, time makes no difference: it cannot be brought back after an hour or after a year. If only the other person deleted it, and only on their side, you still have it.

Related questions

• Deleted Telegram chats: can they be restored
• How to save a Telegram chat
• Clients that keep deleted messages