4 Ways to Recover Deleted Messages on Your iPhone

Did you go spring cleaning on your iPhone and now you're looking for ways to recover deleted messages? Yup. We've all been there.

Most people save their text messages and most probably have all of them saved on their iPhones from the time they purchased their favorite mobile device. Then comes the day when your iPhone warns you that your storage space is becoming limited and now, you're looking around to see what you can delete to free some up.

Text messages serve many purposes and at times we find ourselves needing to go back to them to reference previous conversations. Especially if you find yourself in a space where you are missing someone you love and want to just go back and revisit previous exchanges. Or, if you're looking to reference important information that may have been given to you and now you need it and can't remember what it was you were told. Doing a quick search on your iPhone can pull that conversation back up so that you can find the info you need.

What happens when you went all butterfingers and cleanup happy and deleted messages that you now want to bring back? To recover deleted messages on you iPhone (and not always will you be able to) you'll just have to shake your phone, stand on one leg, spin around 3 times, and then whistle for 30 seconds.

Just kidding.

There are several steps you can take to recover deleted messages and there are even some third-party apps that can help you. In this article, we will cover how to:

  • Recover deleted messages from your phone provider
  • Recover deleted messages from a third-party app
  • Recover deleted messages from iCloud
  • Recover deleted messages from a backup

4 Ways to Recover Deleted Messages on Your iPhone

Before you throw your iPhone out the window out of frustration because you can't find a message you deleted, we suggest that you first try one of the methods listed below to see if there is any hope in finding what you're desperately seeking to locate.

Recover deleted messages By Contacting Your iPhone Service Provider

Not all mobile phone service providers keep records of your text messages, but those that do might be able to help you access them. Contact their support team to see if there is a way to recover deleted messages by taking some simple steps. In some cases, it's as simple as logging onto your account online to access your text message history.

Recover deleted messages on Your iPhone Through a Third-Party App

Another common option to recover deleted messages on your iPhone is to use a third-party app which is quite a resourceful tool. Bear in mind that the message recovery app developers are very aware of what an excellent instrument this is so you may find yourself spending some money to download and use it.

Some of the more popular and reputable message recovery apps are:

  • WonderShare Dr.Fone for iOS
  • Tenorshare iPhone Data Recover
  • PhoneRescue by iMobie
  • Enigma Recovery

See the way that "deleting messages" works is that even well after you've pressed that delete option, it still remains on your mobile device until you've overwritten the data with new one. That means that if it's a message you recently deleted; you have a greater chance to recover it than a message that you deleted say a year ago. Remember, there is no guarantee that you will be able to make your message magically reappear but if it's recoverable, these are some of the third-party apps to start with.

Some good advice is to try and recover deleted messages as soon as you've realized that you got rid of data you're going to need back because the longer you wait, the more your chances of getting it back decrease.

Recover deleted messages from iCloud (without overwriting your entire phone)

Before you get your hopes up, know that iCloud does not back up text messages for all phones. You'll know if your device is one of the lucky ones that do in step 2 below.

  1. Log into your icloud.com account using your Apple ID and password.
  2. Go to "Text Messages" (if you don't see this menu option there then your messages clearly haven't been backed up because it's not even a menu option, so we're done here).
  3. Search through the listed messages to find the one(s) you're looking for.
  4. Head over to you iPhone and go to Settings, your name, and then iCloud.
  5. Turn your text messages off.
  6. When the pop-up message appears, choose "Keep on my iPhone."
  7. Now go ahead and turn text messages back on.
  8. Select "Merge" and then we wait. In a few minutes you should see text messages reappear on your iPhone. Voila! Donezo!

Recover deleted messages from a backup (will overwrite your entire phone)

Alright, here is the final option for most because who wants to overwrite their entire phone just to retrieve messages they deleted during cleanup rage? You do, that's why we're here.

If a backup file exists from before you deleted the message(s) you're looking for then there's a good chance you'll be able to recover it.

  • Open your "Settings" app and go to your name (it's where your avatar image is) at the top.
  • Tap on "iCloud"
  • Go to "Manage Storage"
  • Tap on "Backups."

Take a look and see if you spot a backup that is old enough to include the message(s) you're in need of recovering. You can view the date by tapping on the backup to see the date it was originally saved.

Here's the tough part…you'll now need to completely restore your iPhone back to factory settings before you can set the iPhone up to using that older backup file. ALERT! YOU WILL LOSE ALL DATA THAT'S BEEN ADDED SINCE THE DATE OF THAT BACKUP FILE! That means you should save any images or videos or messages that you don't want to cry over later.

Now, to restore back to your iPhone factory settings go to:

  • General
  • Reset
  • Erase All Content
  • Settings

The recovery process will take several minutes, then you'll see your phone come back to life and it will walk you through the initial setup. When you reach the screen that asks you if you'd like to recover from an old backup, select the one with the date you feel will include the deleted message(s) you're in need of and continue. Now you can breathe again.