Welcome back, aspiring digital investigators.

Many of you found our previous WhatsApp forensics article interesting, where we explained how to pull data from a rooted Android device. That method works well in difficult situations, but it is not always practical. Not everyone has the technical skills required to root a phone, and in many cases it is simply not possible. On the iOS side, things can be easier if you have an iTunes backup saved on a computer. Some users even leave their backups unprotected because they worry about forgetting the password, which means you may be able to access everything quickly.

But what happens when you do not have those ideal conditions? What if you need to extract messages and media fast, without doing anything advanced to the device? Today, we want to show you simple and reliable ways to gather data from WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram with almost no technical experience. Even though these apps use strong encryption, it does not matter much once you have the unlocked device in front of you. Capturing network traffic will not help because everything is encrypted during transit. The smarter approach is to work directly with the phone, where the app already decrypts information for the user.

For this you will need Belkasoft X, one of the professional forensic tools we use at Hackers-Arise. The software is paid, but they offer a thirty-day free trial that you can obtain simply by signing up with your email. After a short time you will receive a link from Belkasoft’s team that allows you to install the tool.

Method 1: Using Belkasoft X Screen Capturer with Top Messengers

One of the easiest ways to collect content from mobile messengers is through automated screen capturing. Screenshots are far more valuable than many people think because they show exactly what the user saw, including messages, contact lists, calls, and media previews. Belkasoft X includes an Android screen-capturer feature that automates this entire process. It scrolls through apps such as Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp, takes screenshots for you, and then uses text-recognition techniques to rebuild readable, searchable chat logs.

Screen capturing is especially helpful because basic Android acquisition methods such as ADB backup often miss large portions of app data. Many apps encrypt their local files, and even if you manage to back them up, decrypting them afterward can be extremely difficult. More advanced approaches, like downgrading APK versions to extract unencrypted data, do work but come with their own risks. Screen capturing, on the other hand, is safe, fast, and based entirely on normal ADB commands. Following well-known digital forensics handling guidelines, such as the SANS “Six Steps,” it is always better to start with the least intrusive method, and screenshots fit perfectly into that philosophy. The Android screen capturer in Belkasoft X is quick because it moves through screens automatically and faster than any human could. It is also flexible because you can limit how much the tool captures, which helps avoid long sessions. For example, you can choose to capture only the most recent messages or specific screens within an app.

Using the tool is straightforward. You connect the Android device to a computer running Belkasoft X, enable USB debugging under the Developer Options menu, and usually switch the phone to Airplane Mode so new notifications do not interfere. If the app depends on loading older messages from the cloud, you can preload everything before activating Airplane Mode. After that you launch Belkasoft X, create a case, select the mobile acquisition option, and choose the Screen Capturer method. 

Once you select either a supported messenger or a generic app, the tool guides you step by step until the capture starts.

During acquisition you should not touch the device until the process finishes. 

When Belkasoft X completes the capture, it offers to analyze the screenshots immediately and convert them into readable text.

For supported messengers like Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp, the software organizes the results into familiar chat views, complete with names, contacts, timestamps, and messages. You can search, filter, and review everything, and if something looks suspicious, you can always return to the original screenshots for verification.

Method 2: Acquiring WhatsApp Cloud Backups

The second approach is useful when you do not have physical access to the device. If a WhatsApp user has configured their app to back up messages to their Google account, the backup files will appear in the user’s Google Drive storage. By default, end-to-end encrypted backups are turned off, and many people also choose to include videos in their backup, giving you more material to investigate. Google Drive itself does not allow direct downloading of WhatsApp’s backup files, so you will need Belkasoft X to retrieve them.

To acquire the backup, you start a case, add a new cloud data source, and select the WhatsApp option.

You then enter the user’s Google account credentials and follow the tool’s instructions.

The resulting data typically includes the encrypted msgstore database in its .crypt14 format, stored inside a folder named after the phone number registered with that WhatsApp account. While the messages themselves are encrypted, the media files are usually stored unencrypted and can be examined right away.

Method 3: WhatsApp QR Linking

The third method imitates the process of linking a new device to a WhatsApp account using a QR code. This is the same mechanism used when you open WhatsApp Web on your computer. The tool uses this linking process to obtain recent conversations and media from the account. Because of how WhatsApp handles synchronization, the data you receive will not be as complete as a full device extraction, but it is often enough to capture recent chats and shared files.

To use this method, the phone must be online and its camera must be functioning, because the user will need to scan a QR code presented on your screen. After creating a new case and selecting the WhatsApp QR acquisition option, the tool guides you through the linking process until the transfer is complete. The recovered messages are stored in an XML-based file along with a folder containing downloaded media.

Summary

You learned about simple and practical ways to extract messages and media from popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram without relying on advanced techniques like rooting an Android device. The key idea is that strong encryption protects data while it is being transmitted, but once you have access to the unlocked phone or its backups, much of that data becomes accessible through careful forensic methods. Belkasoft X is capable of doing this and a lot more. Screen capturing was shown as a safe and effective method that allows investigators to collect visible app content exactly as the user saw it. We also looked at acquiring WhatsApp cloud backups from Google Drive when physical access to the device is not available, and finally at using WhatsApp QR linking to retrieve recent conversations and media through account synchronization. Mobile forensics does not always require deep technical skills to produce valuable results. With the right tools and a thoughtful approach, investigators can quickly and reliably extract meaningful evidence from modern messaging applications.