How do you recover deleted text messages from an iPhone?  

If you have accidentally deleted text messages on your iPhone, there are a few workarounds so that you can get them back. You might be thinking, why do I need to recover, I will just ask them to resend it, yes, you obviously can. However, this is for those situations where you can’t, or if the sender does not have the data as well.   

The reason for deleting a message might be anything, maybe you needed to free up storage space on your iPhone. Maybe you are just a neat maintenance person who deletes all your old text messages. However, now that you have deleted an important text, that either contains an important photo of an important memory or directions to some party, you might be wanting it back.  

Well, there’s good news and bad news, the good news is, if you have been regularly backing up your iPhone, you have the ability to retrieve the text you deleted. The bad news is that you may have to erase some of the other data to restore the message.  

How to recover deleted text messages on your iPhone via iCloud?  

If your phone is set to backup to iCloud, you have the ability to restore a deleted text message from your iCloud backup by doing a full restore. That means reverting your phone to a point when you still had the text.  

The downside to this method is that you will probably have to sign back into all of your apps. There is also a chance you could lose some newer data on your phone as well, it all depends on how long ago the backup you restored was made.  

1. First, you have to open the Settings app on your phone.  

2. Tap your name, it is located at the top.  

3. Tap on iCloud.  

4. Scroll down, then tap on iCloud Backup.  

5. Make sure that your phone has been backed up recently (just in case).  

6. Navigate back to the main Settings menu.  

7. Tap on General.  

8. Scroll down, then tap on “Reset.”  

9. Tap on the option that says “Erase all Content and Settings.”  

10. From the screen that appears after you tap on “Erase all Content and Settings,” tap on Erase Now.  

11. The iPhone will generally take a few minutes to reset to factory conditions. After the reset is done, you will be greeted with the iPhone‘s initial welcome screen. Navigate through the initial steps.  

12. On the Apps & Data screen, tap on the option that says “Restore from iCloud Backup.”  

13. You will have to sign in to iCloud to access the backup. Tap on which backup you wish to restore from the list of iCloud backups displayed, each of which will be dated. Tap on the last backup that your phone had the text you wish to restore.  

How to recover text messages on an iPhone using iTunes or Finder backup?  

If you do not wish to rely on automatic iCloud backups, or if you do not have enough iCloud storage space for them, do not worry, you have the ability to back up your iPhone to your Mac using Finder (or to your PC with iTunes or Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier). Just as with the iCloud method, this method requires having a backup from before you deleted the message and it involves resetting your phone, and restoring from that backup, as well. You will lose everything after you restore the backup.  

• First, you need to connect your iPhone to the PC or Mac, you have backed it up.   
• On a PC (or a Mac that runs on an older version of macOS), launch iTunes. If your Mac runs on macOS Catalina or later, open Finder.   
• In iTunes, click on the iPhone icon, which is situated in the top left-hand corner. If your Mac is running on macOS Catalina or later, you will have to select your device from the left-hand menu bar in Finder.  

• Now click on Restore Backup.   

All the data you previously backed up will begin to replace the data on your iPhone. This process will take a few minutes. As long as you have not backed up since deleting the text messages, they should appear in the messaging list on your phone, after the restoring is done.  

Note: If you have never backed your iPhone up to your computer, or backed it up when you didn’t have that text, this method will not work for you.  

How to Restore deleted texts by contacting your carrier?  

It is possible that your cell provider might keep a record of text messages you send, at least for a while. If you have deleted a critical text message, you may be able to call your carrier to receive a copy of the message.  

Note – This only works for SMS text messages (green bubble conversations), not iMessages (blue bubble conversations). Because every iMessage is encrypted on your device and not decrypted until it reaches the recipient, so your carrier would not be able to help you recover them.  

To get a record of texts from your carrier, you will have to jump through a bunch of hoops to prove your identity. Or, you might even have to get permission from the other person you were texting. Most carriers only keep records of SMS messages for a limited time, so, it is highly unlikely that you will ever be able to recover a message from a year ago.  

However, as a last resort, getting a copy of your SMS messages from your carrier is a possibility, and it’s worth calling the customer support number.  

Can you Restore deleted texts using a third-party app?  

There are quite a few third-party software tools that promise to let you restore deleted data on your iPhone, and yes, this does include deleted texts. It is a bit of a risk because they are rarely free and there is no guarantee that they even work. However, if you have exhausted all other options, and it is really important, and you can’t ask them to just send the message again, it might be worth a shot.  

Some software options with a good reputation online are PhoneRescue, Wondershare Dr. Fone, as well as Tenorshare UltData. Most of the time, a deleted message on an iPhone is still there in the flash storage, waiting to be overwritten by new data. If that is the case, one of the programs might succeed in restoring it.  

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