How to retrieve deleted text messages on iPhone easily
Have you accidentally deleted a message conversation from your iPhone and need to recover it? Here're the best ways to retrieve deleted messages on the iPhone.
Lucas Seltzer Updated on Sep 3, 2024 4:47 PM
Chances are you accidentally deleted important text messages on your iPhone. We don't blame you. Deletion of message thread in the Messages app is not a permanent affair, and it's possible to retrieve deleted messages on iPhone - as long as you act quickly. Here's an ultimate guide on how to recover deleted text messages from an iPhone.
One Tip: No Recently Deleted folder in Messages app? Recently Deleted folder emptied? Or no backup? Try iPhone Data Recovery program for recovering deleted texts from device itself.
Read through each simple method to find the messages you deleted:
Can you get back deleted text messages on iPhone?
When an action of deleting within Messages app happens, you may be wondering if the deleted text messages from an iPhone are recoverable. In general, a message or conversation that is deleted on your device can be recovered unless your storage is wiped.
iPhone has been introduced a Recently Deleted folder right into the Messages app to prevent an instant permanent deletion, which allows you to quickly find the discarded text messages, and could restore them for up to 30 days.
Recently Deleted folder starts to delete the message if it has been there for over 30 days, but the good news is that, it does not physically remove the texts from your device storage. Though you can't see the deleted messages on iPhone, it can be recovered. The key is to use a reliable data recovery tool to kick off the iPhone text message recovery before the deleted items are overwritten by new data. And to accomplish this gold, you should stop using your phone until after you're finished recovering deleted text threads.
With some luck, you may be also able to retrieve the lost text messages by restoring your iPhone from iCloud backup or iTunes backup if you've backed up your data before accidentally deleting the messages, or contact your service provider who may retain a record of message history to let you find the old deleted messages.
How to recover deleted messages on an iPhone from Recently Deleted folder
When text messages have been deleted in the last 30 days, the Recently Deleted folder is the first place to check. You could recover or permanently delete any messages you found. Depending on the configuration of Messages app, there're two ways of recovering deleted messages to the iPhone.
Option 1: Recover deleted texts via Edit
- In Messages app, tap Edit at the upper left of the screen.
- Choose Show Recently Deleted.
- Look through your recently deleted text messages, which identified by phone number or contact name and the remaining days before permanent deletion. You can't open the conversation to read the texts until it's recovered.
- Find the deleted message you wish to restore, and tap on it to select it.
- Tap Recover in the lower right of the screen.
- Choose Recover Message to get it back to its original inbox. If more than one thread is selected to restore, tap Recover [Number] Messages to initiate the process.
Option 2: Find deleted messages through Filters
If Filter Unknown Senders is set to ON for Messages in Settings, you need to use the Filters option to see your recently deleted text messages.
- In Messages app, tap Filters at the top left of the screen.
- Choose Recently Deleted. All your messages you erased in the past 30 days will then appear - as long as you have not emptied the folder.
- Locate the deleted text conversation you want to retrieve.
- Tap on a conversation or message you need. If you require a bulk restore, you can select multiple conversations or messages you're looking for.
- Tap Recover at the bottom right corner.
- Choose Recover Message or Recover [Number] Messages.
The recovered text messages will be sent back to the normal conversation list. Done!
Tip: If Message in iCloud on iPhone is activated, and you have other Apple devices shared the same Apple ID, like iPad and Mac, then recovering a deleted message from your iPhone will recover it on all your devices.
How to retrieve deleted iPhone messages via iPhone Data Recovery tool
While the stock Messages app include the Recently Deleted folder in the event that you need the text messages back, you could discover that you can't retrieve the messages that were deleted 30 days ago, or that were deleted before your iPhone updates to iOS 16 or higher—but it's possible.
You're supposed to recover deleted text messages on iPhone using a reliable data recovery software application. iPhone Data Recovery is a comprehensive data recovery solution that offers both SCAN function and RECOVER function for any deleted files (messages, photos, contacts, notes, call logs, reminders, etc.) This means you can see the deleted messages that are potentially in the iPhone, read the conversations, and tailor the recovery for the specified messages or conversations.
Still, if you haven't got a backup in place, this software could be your life saver.
Step-by-step guide: Retrieving iPhone deleted texts
Step 1- Download iPhone Data Recovery tool on your PC or Mac, and install it properly.
Step 2- Open the software and search for the deleted messages in iPhone's memory.
- Connect your iPhone to your computer via a lightning cable.
- In the program window, choose Recover from iOS Device, and click Start Scan button to start scanning your device for deleted data. A progress bar located at the top of the window shows the status of the scan. The whole process may take a few minutes to complete.
Step 3- Preview and locate the deleted messages the software finds.
- Click Messages in the left pane to show all the found text messages that are available for recovery. You can click on any thread in the middle pane and then see the texts before the recovery.
- You can also utilize the Search feature at the top right corner so you can quickly locate your deleted messages.
Step 4- Recover permanently deleted messages (without backup.)
- To retrieve deleted texts, click on the messages or threads so that they're selected, and hit Recover button.
- When a dialog box opens, specify a saved path for the recovered text messages, and finally, click Recover button to fire up the recovery immediately.
Restore deleted text messages from iCloud backup
If you set your iPhone to back up to iCloud before you deleted the messages accidentally, you can easily restore the iCloud backup to get the messages back. Be aware that a full restore of iCloud backup will overwrite any data you've added to the phone since the backup was made, not just the deleted SMS.
To get started, you need to check to see if you have an iCloud backup containing the deleted messages you want. Go to Settings, choose [your name] at the top, tap iCloud, and then tap iCloud Backup. You could see the date of the last successful backup. If the backup includes the text messages you want to recover, proceed to erase your iPhone and restore it.
1. Go to Settings, and choose General.
2. Scroll down to the bottom and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
3. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
4. Enter your passcode or Apple ID password when asked to begin the reset.
5. When iPhone restarts, set it up.
6. In Transfer Your Apps & Data screen, choose From iCloud Backup.
7. Sign in iCloud with your Apple ID and password to reveal your iCloud backups. You can't see the messages or other data, so you'll have to recover the lost messages by recognizing when they were backed up.
8. Pick the backup since before deleting the text to begin restoring it to the device.
Once you've completed these steps, any data from the selected backup will be restored to iPhone, and your messages will return to Messages app.
Restore iTunes backup to retrieve deleted texts
If you have an iTunes backup or Finder backup (if you're using macOS Catalina or later) with the deleted messages saved, you stand a better chance of recovering deleted SMS messages from iPhone. Likewise, you cannot find the deleted text messages until the backup is restored. Here's how.
Step 1: Launch iTunes or Finder.
Step 2: Plug your iPhone into the computer.
Step 3: Click iPhone icon in the top-left corner of iTunes windows. In Finder, select your device from the left menu bar.
Step 4: Click Restore Backup.
Step 5: Select the backup and click Restore. Your iPhone restores data including the deleted messages from iTunes backup.
Tip: Restoring iTunes backup will delete any data that was not in the backup. Plus, while restoring, you can't view your deleted messages within the backup. No worry, iPhone Data Recovery utility eliminates your concern, and gives you options to preview your backup files, and recover certain data without restoring whole device. No data will be lost.
How to prevent iPhone from deleting text messages automatically
It would be great if iPhone automatically deletes old messages that are probably no longer needed from the Messages app in order to optimize your storage space. Once you activate the automatic clean-up option, all older text messages including the important ones that you don't mean to delete, are automatically removed after a certain time of 30 Days or 1 Year. Those deleted texts cannot be retrieved, though.
Fortunately, you can configure your iPhone to not delete your old text messages automatically.
- In your iPhone, open Settings app.
- Choose Messages.
- Scroll down to MESSAGE HISTORY section.
- Tap on Keep Messages. Here you could see how often your iPhone permanently deletes your older text threads.
- To stop Apple from deleting old messages, change the time period to Forever.
