Is it possible to restore deleted text messages

This might surprise you, but if you ever wanted to find and recover a deleted text message on iOS 15, the only way to do it was to first hope that you had a backup with that specific text, and then restore your iPhone. An overly complicated and time-consuming process, for what should be an easy task.

Fortunately that's now been simplified thanks to iOS 16.

Instead of dealing with restoring a backup, you can now find the deleted texts on your device and recover them into the Messages app with just a few taps. The process is simple, but you need to know where to look before you can recover any deleted text messages. Here's how.

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First find your deleted text messages

All of your deleted text messages can be found in the Messages app. To find your trashed messages, open Messages and tap the Filters option in the top left of your text threads. Here you can filter your text messages by known senders, unread messages and more. However, the option we want is Recently Deleted.

A list of your recent text messages will appear, showing phone numbers or contacts, number of messages and days left until permanent deletion. This will include both entire message threads and individual texts that are deleted. However, you'll be able to see (and recover) deleted messages only if they've been deleted in the last 30 days, so you have to act relatively fast.

Also, you can't see the actual messages themselves, so you'll have to recover them by recognizing the contact name or phone number. Once recovered, you'll then be able to read the texts.

Then recover your deleted text messages

If you want to recover a text message, tap on the thread or message so that it's selected, hit Recover on the bottom right, and then tap Recover Message in the pop-up that appears. You can also recover all of your deleted text messages at once -- don't select any message and then just tap Recover All.

Your recovered text messages will appear in sequential order from when they were either sent or received, so you may have to scroll a bit through your existing texts to find them, especially if they're old and you have a great deal of new messages cluttering up your inbox.

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Did you accidentally delete a text message and now you need to get it back? Fortunately, there are several methods to get back deleted text messages, so no need to worry! We'll go over how to retrieve deleted messages using the new iOS 16 method, plus a few other tips and tricks to recover deleted text messages on an iPhone if you have older software. 

Which Method Is Best for You?

• Recover Deleted Texts in the Messages App (iOS 16)
  • Use if: You have iOS 16 and deleted the texts less than 30 days ago (40 days max). Easiest method, use if possible.
• Recover Deleted Messages on iPhone with iCloud Recovery
  • Use if: You don't have iOS 16 and very recently deleted the messages (since your last iCloud backup). 
• Restore from Your Computer to Retrieve Deleted Texts
  • Use if: You have iOS 16 but deleted your messages more than 30 days ago, or you don't have iOS 16 and your texts were deleted before your most recent iCloud backup.
• Other Options: Contact Your Carrier or Use Third-Party Apps
  • Use if: The options above haven't worked and you're desperate.

How to Recover Deleted Messages on iPhone in the Messages App (iOS 16)

With iOS 16, Apple gave us an ultra-simple way to recover our recently deleted messages! The catch is that you will need to have updated to iOS 16 prior to deleting the text messages you want to recover. With iOS 16, you can recover your deleted text messages 30 days after you erased them (up to 40 days max, depending on the whim of the Apple algorithms). Here's how to find deleted messages on your iPhone and easily recover them in the Messages app: 

1. Open the Messages app and tap Edit in the top left corner. (If you have Filter Unknown Senders enabled in Settings, your view will be slightly different. Tap Filters in the top corner instead.)
2. From the menu that appears, tap Show Recently Deleted. (If you tapped Filters in the step above to view your text message folders, tap the Recently Deleted folder.)
3. You'll see a list of all conversations deleted within the last 30 days, with the number of days remaining listed on the left. Select at least one conversation you want to recover. 
4. Tap Recover to retrieve the deleted conversations. You cannot recover individual texts in a conversation, so this will restore all texts within the conversation.
5. Tap Recover Messages to restore your deleted messages.
6. Tap Done in the top right corner to return to your main messages screen. (If you have Filter Unknown Senders enabled, tap Filters to return to the folders view.)

Now you should see the deleted messages on your iPhone Messages app main screen!

Related: How to Unsend iMessage After You’ve Sent It (iOS 16)

How to Recover Deleted Text Messages on iPhone with iCloud Recovery

If you don't have iOS 16 software, iCloud backups are a great way to recover deleted text messages from an iPhone. While it is not as simple as the iOS 16 method, if you regularly back up your iPhone to iCloud, you should be able to use this method to get deleted messages back. If you're not already, you should definitely be doing regular iCloud backups to ensure you're saving your important data!

First, Check Your Last iCloud Backup

In order to recover deleted texts on the iPhone, you'll need to ensure that the most recent successful backup occurred prior to the deletion of the messages. If this is the case, you can use the last successful backup to restore deleted text messages. Here's how to check your recent iCloud backup so you know the best way to recover your iPhone deleted messages:

1. Open the Settings app and tap your Apple ID profile at the top.
2. Tap iCloud to navigate to your recent iCloud backups.
3. Scroll down if needed and tap on iCloud Backup.
4. Now check to see if the time of your last successful backup was before or after you deleted the texts on your iPhone.

If the iCloud backup predates the time that you deleted messages on the iPhone, you're in luck! Continue to the steps below to restore the deleted messages using the iCloud backup.

Note: If the date of the last successful backup is after the messages were deleted from your iPhone, try using the computer backup method next. I don't recommend using the iCloud Recovery option if you're trying to restore an earlier iCloud backup than the most recent. Because the focus of this feature is for people with new iPhones, you may only see the option to restore your most recent iCloud backup when you're setting your iPhone back up.

Restore Deleted Messages on iPhone with iCloud Backup

Now you'll need to erase your iPhone and restore it with the backup that occurred before the deletion to get back the deleted messages. Here's how to recover deleted text messages on your iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app, then scroll down and tap on General.
2. Scroll all the way down and select Transfer or Reset iPhone.
3. Select Erase All Content and Settings. Note: most of your settings will be safe when you restore your iCloud backup, but you may have to log back in on some of your apps.
4. In the confirmation menu that pops up, tap Erase Now. If you have older software, it's important that you do not choose Backup Then Erase, or you will lose the previous backup and won't be able to recover the deleted text messages.
5. Now your iPhone has been totally erased and will begin as though it’s a new device. Follow the on-screen instructions until you come to the Apps & Data page.
6. On the Apps & Data page, choose Restore from iCloud Backup. Enter any passwords asked for from iCloud Backup, then sign in to iCloud.
7. Proceed to Choose backup, then choose from a list of available backups in iCloud. There may be older backups to choose from other than the one you verified before starting (this is not guaranteed). Choose the most recent one that predates the deletion of the text messages. Keep in mind that the older the backup, the more likely it is that it will not contain other important data that you've added to your iPhone since that backup was made.

You may have to sign back in to all of your accounts after the iPhone is restored. Once this process is complete, check to see if you have recovered the deleted text messages on your iPhone. If not, give the next section a try!

Restore from Your Computer to Retrieve Deleted Text Messages on iPhone

If you don't have iOS 16 and the previous iCloud method for recovering deleted text messages didn’t work, there's another way to get back deleted messages using your computer. You should be able to access any saved messages via iTunes, as long as you have been doing regular backups to your computer. If you have, follow the steps below to recover deleted texts on an iPhone.

If you do have iOS 16 installed, but are trying to restore messages after they were erased from the Recently Deleted folder, the answer is a bit trickier. The first requirement is that you'll need to have been doing regular backups to your computer. Then, whether you accidentally erased your deleted texts from the Recently Deleted folder or it was automatically deleted from the Recently Deleted folder after 30 days, you can recover the deleted texts by restoring an older backup that happened before you initially deleted the messages the first time. 

Important: It's possible that you have disabled this feature of the PC / Mac syncing process, so if you don’t have access to your text messages here, that could be why. You may want to update these settings so that going forward it's easier to recover deleted text messages on an iPhone.

First, Disable Find My iPhone

The first thing you need to do is disable the Find My iPhone feature. You cannot restore a Finder or iTunes backup while Find My iPhone is enabled, since this is meant to prevent someone from restoring a stolen iPhone with their own backup. To disable this iPhone setting: Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap on your name at the top. Then tap Find My, select Find My iPhone, and tap the Find My iPhone toggle to turn it off. You'll need to enter your Apple ID and password.

Next, connect your iPhone with the computer you usually sync it with. If you have macOS Catalina or later installed, you will restore from Finder using the steps below. If you are running an older version of macOS or have a PC, skip to the next section restore from iTunes.

Restore Your iPhone from Finder (macOS Catalina or later) to Recover Deleted Messages

Here's how to retrieve deleted text messages by restoring an iPhone backup from Finder:

1. If prompted, tap Trust to allow your iPhone to trust and connect with this computer.
2. When your iPhone is connected to your Mac, it should appear in Finder under Locations. Click on it.
3. Click Manage Backups and a list of backups on your computer will appear. If you do not see any available backups, unfortunately you won't be able to restore your iPhone from your computer, but keep reading for more ideas.
4. If you do see previous backups, check the list to make sure the most recent backup was made before you deleted those text messages, but after you sent them. If so, click OK.
5. Now you're ready to restore. Click Restore iPhone.

This process takes some time, especially if the backup is large. As long as your backup was made after the text messages were sent and before they were deleted, this should recover them for you. Just follow the prompts, and the iPhone will restore to its backed-up state.

Restore Your iPhone with iTunes to Recover Deleted Text Messages (PC or macOS Mojave & earlier)

If you have a PC or are using macOS Mojave or earlier on your Mac, you can try this method to get back deleted text messages on your iPhone. However, if you have synced with this PC or Mac since deleting your text messages, this process will not work, as iTunes only saves your most recent backup data for a restore. Assuming you have not synced with iTunes since you deleted your text messages, this method should restore your missing messages back to your Messages app!

1. Connect your iPhone with the computer you usually sync it with and iTunes will open automatically. If not, just click the program and open it up.
2. Click the phone icon next to the drop-down menu in the top-left part of the screen. If it's not there, then your iPhone probably isn't connected to your computer.
3. Make sure you're on the Summary page.
4. To get back the data backed up from your iPhone, including your deleted text messages, you will need to click Restore Backup. 
5. If this option is grayed out, you may need to change your backup preferences (on the left-hand side of this screen) from iCloud to This Computer. You can always change this back after you have restored your iPhone.

This process can take a while if you have a lot of data stored on your phone or Mac. Hopefully, you now have access to the deleted messages, but if not, continue reading for more tips to troubleshoot deleted text messages.

Other Options: Contact Your Carrier or Use Third-Party Apps

Contact Your Carrier to Recover Deleted Texts

In some instances, you can recover deleted text messages by contacting your cellular service provider. They will occasionally have access to a backup if it has not yet been overwritten or updated. When you call, you will need to ask for technical support and then ask to speak to a representative, as there probably won’t be accurate menu prompts to take you to the right department. While the representative may or may not be able to help, they may offer suggestions that you have not yet tried. 

Use Third-Party Apps to Recover Deleted Text Messages

We recommend this only as a last resort for retrieving deleted messages on your iPhone. There are some third-party apps out there that will help you recover deleted files and text messages from your iPhone, but they can be sketchy. Make sure you read the reviews carefully to help you evaluate the legitimacy of any app you are thinking of using. If you really are in a bind, there are a few that have some good reviews and are popular online. PhoneRescue by iMobie has a platform for both iPhone and Android devices and WonderShare Dr.Fone for iOS also has a free trial and a paid version available online. Again, there are no guarantees that your privacy will be protected, so even trusted sources online should be carefully considered before you jump right in out of desperation.

Now that you've learned how to recover deleted messages on iPhone in a number of ways, let us know which one works for you! If you've tried an app for recovering deleted text messages, we'd love to hear about your experience with that, as well.

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