Looking for ways to retrieve Twitter chats, recent or long-lost? It’s certainly possible, and you’ve come to the right place. Another fact going in your favor is that TechCrunch discovered in February 2019 that Twitter does not delete direct messages, only hides them from the account. It doesn’t even matter whether they were deleted manually or the account was disabled, which is how methods and 2 are possible. Even if that does not end up being the solution, you can scour your storage and attempt to extract messages from the cache using method 3. With your hopes lifted, let’s jump straight into how to recover Twitter chats.
1. Ask the contact(s)
Whether the direct message on Twitter was sent or received, deleting it only removes it from your account. The other person can still see it, and thus copy it and send it afterward. The same applies to group conversations on Twitter. Even though you’ll leave the group, its members can still access your messages and deliver them to you if requested.
2. Recover Twitter chats via Archive
Here are 2 ways to recover Twitter chats using Archive:
1. Built-in tool
To do this, you must be logged in to the Twitter account on the same browser you’re downloading from. If you’re having trouble signing in, check our Twitter account recovery guide first. Additionally, your e-mail address must be verified. If that’s done, follow these steps to recover Twitter chats via Archive:
- Click on More (three-dot icon) in the navigation bar on the left side.
- Select Settings and privacy.
- Find the Account section.
- Click on Your Twitter data.
- Under Download your Twitter data, enter your account password.
- Under Download an archive of your data, click on the Request archive button.
- Wait for Twitter to generate your archive. You’ll get an e-mail notification when it’s ready.
- Go back to the same page in step 5, and click on the Download archive button (previously named Request archive).
- Extract the .zip file anywhere you want.
- Open the index.html file and begin looking through the Twitter data.
2. Third-party tool
This is not an endorsement, but an example of what’s possible when people with sufficient knowledge decide to help the community. We’re referring to free, open-source tools such as DMArchiver. It allows you to recover Twitter direct message history, including text, photos, and videos. It utilizes Twitter API and does not require personal information, since it works locally. The only trouble is the Twitter API itself, whose updates can break the tool, as was the case during the time of writing this article. Users usually post workarounds, such as using a User-Agent Switcher tool to simulate older versions of software. Also, you’re free to look at alternatives.
3. Recover Twitter chats through a data recovery software
You must’ve noticed Twitter taking a lot of phone real estate with its cache, forcing you to clean it regularly. Well, this cache can be a saving grace, allowing you to restore Twitter chats. The only obstacle is the time that has passed since you lost the Twitter conversations. To clarify, the sooner you act, the better. With that said, we’ve demonstrated how data recovery software finds data fragments in our “how to recover Keepsafe photos“ guide. Obviously, since you want to recover Twitter conversations, you should look through the App Documents category (step 7) after the scan finishes. Afterward, launch the Twitter app and browse the conversations to see if you managed to recover Twitter DMs.
