Best 4 Free Tools to Extract WhatsApp Messages from iPhone Backup
I backed up my iPhone 6 with iTunes 2 months ago and now I want to recover some deleted WhatsApp messages from the backup. However, I don’t want to restore the all the files as this will definitely mess up my iPhone. Is it possible to do that?
The last decade witnessed the rising of WhatsApp, one of the most popular messaging apps in iPhone and Android smartphones all around the world. With so many friends and contacts using this social app, the WhatsApp data in mobile devices could occupy hundreds of MB of space. That’s why a lot of iPhone users back up their WhatsApp chats through iTunes. However, do you know how to extract WhatsApp messages from iTunes backup without messing up existing data in iPhone?
Don’t worry. This article introduces the top 4 tools to extract and recover WhatsApp messages from iPhone/iPad/iPod backup free, provided that you have an available iTunes backup.
1. Jihosoft Free iTunes Backup Extractor (Free Version) ★★★★★
Free Jihosoft iPhone Backup Extractor is the top choice when you want to view and extract data from iTunes backup, including WhatsApp messages, photos, videos, contacts, call logs, notes, etc. In addition to its user-friendly interface and straightforward operation, this iTunes backup extractor also features with a full range of supported iOS devices, including iPhone 12, iPhone 11, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 7, iPhone 6, iPhone 5, iPhone SE, iPad Air 2, iPod Touch etc.
Steps to Extract WhatsApp from iPhone Backup:
- Step 1: After you install this software, select an iTunes backup file that you want to extract from, then click “Next”.
- Step 2: Choose “WhatsApp & Attachments” to extract and recover from backup file, and type on “Next” to start scanning.
- Step 3: After scanning, you can carefully preview and check these messages, now click “Recover” to extract selected whatsApp messages from iPhone to computer.
Jihosoft iTunes Backup Extractor allows free preview for all the found data on the program. Free trial users can even extract notes, reminders, calendar, Safari bookmarks directly. To extract all kinds of data from iTunes backup and enjoy all features, you’re suggested to upgrade to the pro version.
2. iBackup Viewer (Free Version) ★★★★
With the iBackup Viewer, you can easily extract much data including WhatsApp messages from iPhone backup. However, many of files in the scan result are not previewable. Actually, I need to recover lost WhatsApp messages but didn’t get what I want with iBackup Viewer Free.
Once you have installed and launched this app, this app will automatically load your iPhone backups. Just select the messages that you want to print and click the “Action” button from the top toolbar, then select “Save to PDF”.
3. iPhone Backup Extractor (Free Version) ★★★
The iPhone Backup Extractor is a powerful data recovery tool for iPhone. You can save the WhatsApp messages from iPhone backup wherever you want on computer. The exported files will be automatically saved in the form of xls. However, the free edition can only restore 4 database entries or 2 media files. What a pity!
Download and launch iPhone Backup Extractor Pro on computer, select a backup file and click “App View” to select “WhatsApp Messenger”, then type on “Extract” and select a folder to save selective messages to print out.
4. WhatsApp Pocket (Free Version) ★★
WhatsApp Pocket is specially aimed to recover and extract WhatsApp messages from iPhone backup. All WhatsApp chats history and attachments can be extracted by this tool. But you can only preview the WhatsApp messages unless you buy a pro version. And the software is not so stable when running on my computer.
Install and open up whatsApp pocket on your computer, then select “Extract from iTunes Backup Files”, choose a backup file and type on the scan button. After scanning, you are now able to save whatsApp messages to computer and print them out.
What if you don’t have any available iPhone/iPad/iPod backup?
If you didn’t sync your iPhone/iPad/iPod with iTunes before, don’t worry, you can rely on the following two data recovery tools to recover WhatsApp messages from iPhone directly:
Jihosoft iPhone Data Recovery: If you are not satisfied with the free WhatsApp recovery from iTunes backup, I suggest you try Jihosoft iPhone Data Recovery. It is affordable and efficiently help you recover deleted WhatsApp messages and attachments from iPhone. You are allowed to preview the data before recovery.
WhatsMate – A WhatsApp Manager: If you need an all-in-one tool to manage your WhatsApp data, such as WhatsApp backup, transfer and recovery, you may want to try WhatsMate.