Deleted stays readable
WhatsApp posts no notification when a message is deleted, so the copy saved on arrival survives. It is marked deleted in the chat.
Android · Open source · Free
Deleted is not
gone anymore.
Kleene Petze keeps every message notification in an encrypted archive on your phone. When someone deletes a WhatsApp message before you read it, you can still read it — and see that it was deleted. No cloud, no tracking.
Works with
- WhatsApp Business
- Signal
- Telegram
- Messenger
- Google Messages
A memory for your notifications
Edits uncovered
When a message is edited, the earlier version stays in the archive, marked edited. The Uncovered view lists everything deleted or edited across all chats.
Encrypted, on your phone
SQLCipher with AES-256, the key in the Android Keystore, backups disabled. An optional biometric lock also hides the app from the recent-apps preview.
Chats, search, pictures
Messages are sorted into chats like in the messenger, with full-text search. The preview picture a notification carries can be kept too.
Export and import
The whole archive as an encrypted file, JSON or CSV — and back. An import only adds: nothing is overwritten, the same file twice changes nothing.
Keeps listening
Android silently disconnects notification listeners after reboots, updates and battery savers. Kleene Petze reconnects by itself and shows its status in Settings.
Material 3 Expressive, with a parrot that never forgets
Install in three steps
-
1
Download the APK
One file for every phone with Android 8.0 or later — there is nothing to pick.
-
2
Allow the install
Open the file. Android asks once whether your browser may install apps — allow it.
-
3
Grant notification access
The first screen takes you there. Also exempt the app from battery optimization — Samsung in particular stops background services otherwise.
Check what you downloaded
- kleene-petze-v1.10.0.apk
85f8c4ec8e8742ef5f3d3ee0636b58ab9f974e15a18f235920f6f95ee7c7e624
- Signing certificate SHA-256
0560befbf32c64ede5a518a18bf6799c44f85b45853e97723914d4a84aafe379
Every release is signed with the same key. Compare with apksigner verify --print-certs.
Kleene Petze is not on Google Play. Every release is built and signed by GitHub Actions from the public source code and published on GitHub Releases.
Questions
Is Kleene Petze free?
Yes. It is free and open source under the MIT licence, with no ads, no account and no tracking.
Can it show every deleted message?
Only messages that arrived as a notification on this phone. If you had already read a message before it was deleted, or the chat is muted, there was no notification to keep.
Does anything leave my phone?
No messages, ever. The only network access is the optional update check: switched on, it reads the newest version number from this page once a day — without any identifier. Switched off, the app makes no network request at all.
Which phones does it run on?
Android 8.0 or later. On Samsung and other phones with aggressive battery savers, exempt the app from battery optimization so the system does not stop it.
How do I update?
Switch on Nach Updates suchen in Settings: the app then looks once a day for a new release and notifies you. Download the APK from this page and install it over the existing app; your archive and settings stay.
Is the file genuine?
Compare the SHA-256 checksum and the signing certificate shown on this page. Android also refuses to install an update signed with a different key over the app.
Like the app?
Kleene Petze is free, has no ads and stays that way. A small donation keeps it maintained — and a review of celox.io on Google helps just as much.
Use it responsibly
The archive holds messages that other people wrote to you — including ones they chose to take back. Keep them to yourself, and respect that someone who deletes a message may have had a reason.