Where are archived chats on WhatsApp? How to find and unarchive them

Archived chats are under Archived at the top of the Chats tab. Tap it to see them, and unarchive any chat from there. Archiving hides a chat from the main list without deleting it, taking you out of a group or making a backup: messages keep arriving, the chat still turns up in search, and nothing is sent to the other person or the group.

Below: where archived chats sit on Android, iPhone and WhatsApp Web, how to unarchive them, how to archive one chat or all of them, what Keep chats archived does, how notifications and communities behave, and how archiving compares with muting, locking and leaving.

How do you find archived chats?

1. 1Open the Chats tab, the first screen WhatsApp shows.
2. 2Look for Archived at the top of the list and tap it. On WhatsApp Web, click Archived at the top of your chat list.
3. 3Open any chat there as normal, or unarchive it to bring it back to the main list.

The number beside Archived counts archived chats with unread messages, and an @ appears next to it when someone mentions you or replies to you in an archived group. If you have turned Keep chats archived off on Android, archived chats sit at the bottom of the Chats tab rather than the top, so scroll down.

You don't have to open Archived to find one chat. Type the person's name or the group's subject into the search bar at the top of the Chats tab: archived chats appear in the results. Searching WhatsApp covers the filters for photos, links and documents when you're hunting for a message rather than a chat.

How do you unarchive a WhatsApp chat?

On iPhone and WhatsApp Web you can also unarchive straight from search results, without opening Archived.

How do you archive a chat on Android, iPhone and WhatsApp Web?

Archiving works the same way for individual chats and groups; only the gesture changes from one platform to the next.

How do you archive all chats at once?

Both phone apps can clear the whole Chats list in one go, which helps when the list has become a wall of old groups and you want to start again from what's actually active. Nothing is deleted.

1. 1On Android, tap the three-dot menu, then Settings, Chats, Chat history, Archive all chats, and confirm with OK.
2. 2On iPhone, tap Settings or your profile picture, then Chats, Archive all chats, and confirm with Archive all.

On iPhone, once everything is archived the Chats tab shows a line saying all of your chats are archived, with Archived just below it. With the default settings, new messages in those chats leave them where they are, so the list only refills with new conversations and the chats you unarchive.

What does Keep chats archived do?

It decides what happens when a new message lands in an archived chat. With Keep chats archived on, which is the default, the chat stays in Archived. With it off, a new message brings the chat back to your main list, which is the usual reason archived chats seem to keep coming back. The switch is in the same place on both phones:

• Android: three-dot menu, Settings, Chats, Keep chats archived.
• iPhone: Settings or your profile picture, Chats, Keep chats archived.
• WhatsApp Web has no switch of its own. Archived chats there follow the setting on your phone.

Leave it on for chats you're finished with but don't want to leave, such as an old office group or a large family group you'd rather read in your own time. Turn it off if you use Archived as a 'dealt with' pile, so anything new comes back to your attention.

Do archived chats still send notifications?

Mostly not. WhatsApp doesn't notify you about an archived chat unless someone mentions you or replies to one of your messages, and you can't change the notification settings of a chat while it's archived. That makes archiving a quieter cousin of muting for chats you rarely need. Two things don't change:

• The other person isn't told. Archiving only rearranges your own chat list; on their side the chat looks exactly as before.
• Reading still counts. Open an archived chat with read receipts on and the sender sees blue ticks as usual. How read receipts work explains what they show in groups.

Can you archive a group inside a WhatsApp community?

Yes, any group you're in, but not the community as a whole. Open the Communities tab, tap the community, tap and hold the group and tap Archive chat. Archived groups are then listed under View archived inside that community, and an archived announcement group stays at the top of the community with an Archived label.

Archive every group in a community and the community disappears from your Chats tab, though it's still waiting in the Communities tab. That is often the quietest way to keep a residents' or school community you need occasionally without it filling your chat list. Community vs group explains how the pieces fit together.

Archive, mute, lock or leave: which one?

Archiving is one of four ways to make a chat less noisy, and each hides something different.

Lock is the one to use when the point is privacy rather than tidiness. Anyone holding your unlocked phone can open Archived and read what's in it, but a locked chat needs your phone's authentication, and you can hide the Locked chats folder behind a secret code so it only appears when you type that code into search. To find locked chats, swipe down on your chat list and tap Locked chats. For groups you want to be out of for good, leaving a group silently covers who sees what.

Pinning is the opposite move: it keeps up to three chats fixed at the top instead of hiding them. The two work well together: pin the handful of chats that matter this week and archive everything you've finished with. If most of the clutter is groups, managing many WhatsApp groups has a fuller routine.

On a business number, archiving is a personal filing habit rather than a team process: it hides chats on that phone without recording who dealt with them. Teams that answer customers together usually need filters instead, by unread or by the person a chat is assigned to, which is how the WavesFlo shared inbox organises chats from every linked number.

What teams ask before moving customer chats off a phone, such as how far back search reaches and how long messages are kept, is answered in the inbox questions of our FAQ.