Since its release in 2009 to today’s date, WhatsApp has become the lifeline of most people in the world. It’s an instant messaging app from which users can send text messages., voice messages, photos, videos & many more. One can’t forget the time of complete lockdown back in 2020 when all the work was shifted to online and work from home mode WhatsApp attendance was a must in every organization. Whether it’s for coordination and cooperation among the teams in the corporate companies, taking online classes in school or college, we all saw that WhatsApp was everywhere.
WhatsApp is a widely popular app and one of the reasons for its popularity is that the messages sent and received through WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted. This means that only the sender and receiver have access to the messages and no one else can read them. Even the app cannot read them. But can the messages be decrypted? Well, Yes the WhatsApp messages can be decrypted about which we will discuss in this article.
Encryption & Decryption
Encryption refers to converting some information into a secret code whereas decryption refers to deciding the code and accessing the hidden information.
Encryption in WhatsApp
WhatsApp is very particular about the security of the data of its users. With several updates, WhatsApp has introduced many layers of encryption of data and safeguarding the messages. crypt 2, crypt5, crypt7, crypt8, crypt12 forms encrypt all the data in a particular conversation on WhatsApp.
The layer of security is a lot but still, it’s not impossible to break these layers although it’s termed to be a difficult task for the coders.
Decryption of WhatsApp Messages
WhatsApp messages are encrypted but it’s possible to decrypt the messages. This can be done by using decryption tools or by forming malware and introducing it to the target phone. If one has access to the target phone then the task becomes a little easier.
Also Read: Best Convenient Methods To Hide Apps In An iPhone
Two Prominent Methods to Read Encrypted WhatsApp Messages on Android
Method 1
WhatsApp chats are backed up in Google drive. There are various apps like ‘App Trans’ by which you can easily decrypt the backed WhatsApp messages on Google drive.
Summarized Steps
- Step 1-:Download ‘App Trans’ and launch it on your computer
- Step 2:- Tap on App Restore
- Step 3:- Choose WhatsApp backup mode.
- Step 4:- Login in your Google account and select the Google drive backup that you want to decrypt.
- Step 5:- Select the particular message
- Step 6:- Select Decrypt now
- Step 7:- Follow onscreen instructions.
Method 2
You can also read encrypted messages on your computer but for this, you need access to the device on which your WhatsApp account is connected. Also, the particular device should be rooted so that the crypt12 form could be decrypted.
Summarized Steps
- Step 1:- Go to the system storage and select ‘WhatsApp’
- Step 2:- Select database folder and then select files. From this select the key file.
- Step 3:- Copy the key file to your computer after connecting to the smartphone. Also, copy the msgstore.DB.crypts to the same folder as the key file.
- Step 4:- Open WhatsApp viewer, click on the file menu and select decrypt.crypt12option.
- Step 5:- Import the decrypted database when the option appears.
- Step 6:- Select the phone number whose WhatsApp account you want to access.
Also Read: How To Use Two WhatsApp In One Phone {Android or iOS}
Conclusion
With more than 2 billion users WhatsApp is the first choice of users for instant messaging and communication. Working professionals start their day by reading WhatsApp messages and end by checking the same. This is the height of the importance of WhatsApp. But can the encrypted WhatsApp messages be decrypted? This is what we discussed in the article above. How one can read the messages on a target phone on WhatsApp is what you will explore in this article.
