Overview

• LA NACION and 24 Horas report that WhatsApp does not offer a recycle bin and that deletions remove chats and media from the device.
• LA NACION links the absence of a server‑side trash to end‑to‑end encryption that prevents WhatsApp from retaining deleted content.
• To free space, users can empty individual or all chats from the app and optionally delete the associated media from the device gallery.
• Recovery relies on restoring a prior backup saved to Google Drive on Android or iCloud on iPhone by uninstalling and reinstalling the app.
• Any new backup created after deletion makes the removed history unrecoverable from backups, while Clarín claims Android has a 'papelera' accessible via file manager or Manage Storage that conflicts with the other guides.