The First Minister said there was "no excuse" for the mass deletion of messages by senior figures during the pandemic.
He also admitted telling the UK Covid Inquiry he had deleted his messages before finding them on an old phone.
Yousaf made the criticism of the Sturgeon administration at the inquiry after a week of negative publicity over the missing messages.
It was confirmed last week that Sturgeon, who led Scotland's response to Covid, had not retained any WhatsApps.
Chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith and national clinical director Jason Leitch also deleted theirs in line with a controversial internal policy.
Yousaf, who won the SNP leadership last year by defending Sturgeon's legacy, put distance between them at the inquiry in Edinburgh.
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Denne historien er fra January 26, 2024-utgaven av Daily Record.
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