Deleted from phone's internal storage, Android 7, no root access and no other copy of the folder exists. I checked out multiple other links, e.g: recover whatsapp messages (database folder deleted) | Recover Whats-app database files (.crypt12) | How to recover a deleted file from /data partition? etc. Decrypting MSGSTORE.DB.CRYPT12 Files: A Step-by-Step Guide to Open and Access | If you use WhatsApp, you might have heard about MSGSTORE.DB.CRYPT12 msgstore.db.crypt12 is the file with the latest WhatsApp chat backup. This is the file used for automatic chat and contact recovery after reinstallation of WhatsApp. msgstore-2016-11-08.1.db.crypt12 is a backup copy of the application's chats for a certain date which is given in the file name. 1.Uninstall WhatsApp. 2.Decide which backup file you want to restore. 3.Rename that file from "msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt7" to "msgstore.db.crypt7" or from "msgstore-YYYY-MM-DD.1.db.crypt8" to "msgstore.db.crypt8". 4.Install WhatsApp. 5.When asked to restore, tap Restore. You will now be able to see your restored messages. msgstore.db - decrypted sqlite3 database file. Below is how you can compile and run the Java program. $ git clone $ cd whatsapp-crypt12/ $ javac -classpath "lib/whatsapp_spongycastle.jar:." In case anyone's wondering, my phone is not rooted, but I have the WhatsApp key and wa.db files, so I can decrypt (and re-encrypt) the msgstore.db file. What I have tried is to manually delete some messages in the messages table in the msgstore.db file, it sure reduces the file size, but then it fails when I try to restore WhatsApp chats using .

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