That's a really long time to stay out of touch with friends and family. It gave me a mixed feeling of both anxiety (fear of missing out) and tranquillity (bliss of missing out).
But it also taught me a very important lesson - Thou shalt not be greedy. There is this old Mizo proverb - "Duham chu channa", which means, "Greed leads to loss".
In my attempt to eat the icing on the cake, I ended up destroying the entire cake.
So what happened was, my phone suddenly died 3+ months ago. I couldn't access my local WhatsApp backup file as my phone was completely dead (battery + USB port fried).
And the last time I did a complete cloud backup of my WhatsApp data to my Google Drive was more than 2 years ago.
Long story short, I wasn't successful in my attempt to retrieve my local backup from my dead phone, and after 3 months of failed attempts, I finally decided to install WhatsApp on my new phone and do only a Google Drive sync, thinking that I may not get back my recent messages but I'll at least get back all my messages from 2+ years ago.
Something's better than nothing, right?
And that's when I learnt that WhatsApp automatically marks your account as "inactive" if you don't use it for more than 45 days (can be due to idleness, no internet coverage or uninstallation).
If you start using WhatsApp again or reinstall WhatsApp on the same device again after 45 days of inactivity, your account will automatically be activated again, giving you no problem at all. You won't even know this process had taken place in the background. Everything will be normal for you.
However, after 45 days of inactivity, if you install WhatsApp on a new device using the same phone number, then WhatsApp automatically considers your phone number to be "recycled" and is being used by a different user, and so it automatically deletes your WhatsApp account and creates a new one! [source]
Aaaargh, I didn't know that!!
Because I installed WhatsApp on my new phone after 45 days of inactivity, my WhatsApp got deleted immediately, and so I was automatically removed from all groups, my profile picture and status were deleted, along with my block list, mute list, sticker collection etc., and worst of all, my Google Drive backup was also deleted!!!!
Yes, in my attempt to retrieve my recent messages, I ended up losing not just them but my entire WhatsApp data and settings!
So do keep this in mind if you're experiencing a similar issue. Make sure you install WhatsApp on your new phone before 45 days of inactivity if you don't want WhatsApp to delete your account. Do learn from my mistake.
But my disappointment wasn't as devastating as my girlfriend's though.
When Lalani's mom Nu Mahlimi passed away on 14th January this year, it was a very difficult time for her and her family. But they were strong and somehow managed to pull through. Life slowly got back to normal for them. Her mom was still there in their various family WhatsApp groups, and they continued chatting in the groups like it was normal.
And then suddenly one fine day, 4 months after Nu Mahlimi's sad demise, Lalani and her brothers all woke up to the heart-piercing WhatsApp message that "Nu Mahlimi had left the family groups"!
That was such a shattering notification to read, opening up old wounds all over again. The emotional repercussion was intense. It was a feeling nobody should ever live through again.
So apparently, WhatsApp automatically deletes an account if it is inactive for more than 120 days. [source]
Such a heartbreaking incident. If only I had known about this, I could have warned her about it and her brother could have just logged into WhatsApp from Nu Mahlimi's mobile phone. But I only found out about this as I was researching for this post.
So I hope at least I'm able to warn you all about this so that you may not experience such unpleasantness in the future. If your loved one had left this world and you want to keep his or her presence continuously felt in your WhatsApp groups, make sure somebody who has access to the person's phone is using WhatsApp at least once every 3-4 months.
To sum up, as of today, October 2021 -
- Your WhatsApp account will automatically be deleted after 120 days of inactivity.
- Your WhatsApp account will automatically be considered as "inactive" after 45 days of inactivity.
- After 45 days of inactivity, if you install WhatsApp to a new phone using the same phone number, your WhatsApp account will automatically be deleted and a new one created.
- ALWAYS back up your WhatsApp data to cloud - Google Drive (for Android users) and iCloud (for iPhone users), at least once a month.
- But keep in mind, your Google Drive WhatsApp backup will automatically be deleted after 1 year of inactivity.
- Your Google Drive WhatsApp backup will also automatically be deleted if your WhatsApp account is deleted.
Also, there is a difference between automatic "group leave" and manual "group leave". We all know that if you manually leave a WhatsApp group, the admin cannot add you again to the same group immediately, so as to prevent harassment etc [source]. The only way to join a group you've just left is through a "join invitation" link (or wait for some time).
However, if you leave a group because of automatic WhatsApp deletion like in my case above, then the admin can add you back immediately.
This surprised many of my friends in the groups too, as they wondered how I could be added to the group again right after I had just left the same group. The reason is simple - My WhatsApp account was automatically deleted and a new one created immediately when the above process took place, and so technically, the admin was adding a new account and not my old one.
So those are the important points to remember the next time you use WhatsApp again. I'll end this post for now and in my next post, I will write about my hilarious and unsuccessful attempt to retrieve my WhatsApp local backup from my old phone. :D
Until then, everyone, take care.
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