Text messages are still intended for companies, banks and advertisers. It is very popular to keep in touch with friends and family. Amid the deluge of messages you receive, it’s only natural to accidentally delete some important text from your iPhone while spring cleaning the inbox. Luckily, there are ways to recover deleted text messages on iPhone.
The iPhone comes with a built-in function to recover deleted messages. If you have made an iCloud or iTunes backup, you can also recover lost messages from it. If none of the tricks work, you will need to use third-party data recovery software.
1. Recover deleted text messages within 30 days
iOS allows you to recover deleted text messages within 30 days. First you need to enable “Filters” in the Settings menu. Let’s check it out in action.
Step 1: Open Settings on your iPhone.
2nd step: Scroll down to Messages.
Step 3: Select “Unknown and Spam” from the Message Filtering menu. Enable SMS filter in the next menu and turn on the toggle next to “Filter unknown senders”.
Then follow the steps below to recover deleted texts using the Messages app.
Step 1: Launch the Messages app on your iPhone. You will see filters in the upper left corner. Press it.
2nd step: Select “Recently Deleted”.
Step 3: Tap the radio icon next to the messages you want to recover.
Step 4: Tap Retrieve in the lower right corner and check your messages in the main inbox.
The above trick works within 30 days of deleting this post. After a month, iOS permanently deletes these SMS.
If you have backed up messages in iTunes for Windows or Finder for Mac, follow the steps below to restore the backup and recover deleted text messages.
2. Restore Backup File to iPhone
Be careful when restoring a backup file to iPhone. It will reset your iPhone to factory settings and restore a backup file with old data. This means it will delete all your recent data. The steps to restore a backup from Mac and Windows vary. Let’s start with Mac.
mac
Step 1: Connect your iPhone to your Mac using the Lightning cable.
2nd step: Open the Finder.
Step 3: Select your iPhone under “Places”.
Step 4: Check your iPhone details on the right pane and select “Restore Backup” from the Backups section.
Step 5: If you have multiple backup files, restore a recent file to your iPhone.
the Windows
Windows users should restore an iOS backup file using iTunes. The app is readily available in the Microsoft Store.
Step 1: Launch iTunes on Windows.
2nd step: Connect your iPhone to the PC using the Lightning cable.
Step 3: Open iTunes and check your phone in the Summary menu.
Step 4: Select Restore Backup and choose a relevant backup file from the next menu.
Your iPhone will be reset to factory settings and restore the selected backup file on it. Once the process is complete, you should see your deleted texts in the Messages app.
Use a third-party data recovery application if you still cannot see your deleted messages in the backup file.
3. Use a data recovery app
A third-party data recovery app is your last resort to recover deleted messages on your iPhone. The web is full of such apps with great claims to restore deleted content to your iPhone. However, you should be careful while selecting software to recover deleted text messages.
Not all software works as advertised and may fail to recover deleted text messages on iPhone. We suggest using data recovery software that offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can always ask for a refund if the recovery functions aren’t up to par.
4. Enable Message Backup to iCloud
If you don’t want to lose any messages in the future, you’ll need to turn on message backup in iCloud. Even if you lose your iPhone, you can still restore iCloud backup to your new phone and recover all messages.
Step 1: Open Settings on your iPhone.
2nd step: Select your profile.
Step 3: Tap iCloud.
Step 4: Select Show All.
Step 5: Enable message backup in the next menu.
iCloud device backup may require more storage than the 5GB free space. You need to subscribe to one of the iCloud+ or Apple One plans to unlock more storage for your Apple account.
5. Check your deleted text messages on other Apple devices
If you have enabled iCloud sync on other Apple devices like iPad or Mac, the system syncs your messages across all hardware. When you delete a text message on your iPhone, you can also recover it on your iPad or Mac (if they’re not connected to the internet and haven’t deleted the messages). You can open Messages on iPad or Mac and recover the deleted message.
Recover your deleted messages in no time
The default Messages app is the best way to recover deleted text messages on iPhone. What trick worked for you? Share your findings in the comments below.