We get this question almost every day: how can I get deleted text messages back? We all know that texts and messages sometimes get deleted by accident.
It’s a fact of life, especially if you let kids, spouse or girl/boyfriends, family members, and even plain old friends borrow your iPhone or iPad.
Most of the time, it’s not on purpose, all it takes is a swipe in the right direction and bang that message conversation (and any attached images/videos/stickers/gifs) is gone. BUT not necessarily for good.
If you’re asking how can I retrieve deleted iMessages or texts? Look no further than your Mac or other iDevices.
If you don’t use Messages in iCloud AND use Messages with the same Apple ID on more than one iDevice or an iDevice and a Mac, when you delete a text thread on one device it DOES NOT delete on any other device.
So first, check any other device and see if the message thread is there.
Your all devices should allow for both iMessage and SMS recovery, just by opening up your Message App!
For this to work, you must have previously activated iMessage on your computer or additional iDevice with the same Apple ID AND not enabled Messages in iCloud.
So if you use Messages on your Mac or another iDevice, forward that thread to yourself so a copy moves to the device where you deleted it.
Just remember that when you reply, it’ll reply to yourself and NOT the original sender.
You need to start a new message to converse with that original sender.
So this option is for folks who just want the information held within the texts, NOT for those wanting to continue building the conversation.
I Use Messages in iCloud, What Are My Options To Restore a Deleted Text?
For folks that use iCloud and Messages in iCloud, iOS automatically stores all your iMessages, text (SMS), and multimedia (MMS) messages in iCloud.
Unfortunately, Messages in iCloud updates automatically, so when you delete a message, photo, or conversation on one device, it’s immediately removed from all of your devices.
This syncing between devices means you always have the same view everywhere you use iMessage–and that’s normally a great feature.
But when you delete a message accidentally, it’s a very bad thing–because that deleted message is no longer available on any device.
Did You Just Delete That Message?
If you deleted that message just now, you may be able to recover it by turning off Messages in iCloud asap (as soon as possible.)
When you toggle off Messages in iCloud, a message pops up asking you if you want to download your messages and disable Messages in iCloud.
Tap Disable and Download Messages.
If your message is still on Apple’s Message in iCloud servers it will download to your device!
How To Recover Deleted Text Messages From an iPhone or iPad Using an iCloud or iTunes / Finder app Backup
If you don’t have another Apple device or didn’t activate iMessages, how do you get old text messages back?
Well, the only other option (outside of some third-party apps) is to look at your iPhone’s backup in either iTunes or iCloud.
If you backup via iCloud or iTunes, all your text message conversations (SMS, MMS, and iMessages) are still retained in your iPhone’s backup–so if you backed up recently, those threads are there.
But these backups only contain information up to that backup date and time.
So here’s another reason to turn iCloud BackUp ON–if you didn’t already have a good reason.
As a quick reminder, turn on iCloud BackUp by going to Settings > Apple ID Profile > iCloud > iCloud Backup and turn it ON.
Find iCloud Backups
So if you recently lost your text messages, restore your latest backup and get all those messages that were current at the time the backup was created.
To check when you last backed up on iCloud, go to Settings > Apple ID Profile > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backup > Your Device to see the date and size of its latest backup.
Earlier iOS iCloud Backup Locations
For iOS 10.3, go to Settings > Apple ID Profile > iCloud. Tap the graph that shows your iCloud usage, then tap Manage Storage
With iOS 10.2 or earlier, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage
Find macOS Catalina+ Finder app backups
Connect an iOS or iPadOS device to your Mac running macOS Catalina and above
Open a new window in Finder and select the device from the sidebar
Go to the General tab and click Manage Backups
Locate specific backups from Finder and control-click to show them in Finder.
Control-click the iDevice backup you want
Select Show in Finder
Find iTunes Backups (macOS Mojave and below)
Open iTunes
In the top menu bar, tap iTunes > Preferences
Click Devices
Control-click the device backup you want
Choose Show in Finder
A window shows all available backups with dates
To learn more about the Finder app and iTunes backups, see this article.
Everything Goes Back, Not Just Messages!
Be mindful that this process reverts everything back to that last backup, so if you took a lot of photos, videos, or downloaded a lot of apps or books, those items won’t show up, and you’ll need to download them again. For photos and videos, be sure to back these up using something other than iCloud–like to your Google Drive, Dropbox, or your backup location of choice.
And if you never backed up using iTunes or iCloud or you didn’t back up recently, your texts are sadly lost for good. Unfortunately, this is currently the only way to retrieve accidentally deleted texts.
Restore from an iCloud backup
Turn off Find My iPhone via Settings > Apple ID Profile > iCloud > Find My iPhone > Off
Go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings
On the Apps & Data screen, tap Restore from iCloud Backup and, sign in to iCloud
Select Choose Backup and select your preferred backup from the list of available backups and then tap the blue Restore button
Your iPhone asks you to choose which iCloud backup to restore (if you have more than one.) Apple stamps your iCloud backups with dates and times, so pick a backup that’s dated just before you accidentally deleted those texts messages
iCloud starts restoring and gives you an estimate to completion. It often only takes a few minutes, but occasionally more (even hours.) So be patient!
After using your iCloud backup to restore
Once restarted, iOS downloads any purchased music, movies, TV shows, apps, books, photos, and other content
If asked, enter passwords for iTunes Store, App Store, and iBooks Store accounts to restore your items
Restore from an iTunes backup
Turn off Find My iPhone via Settings > Apple ID Profile > iCloud > Find My iPhone > Off
Connect your iPhone or iPad and open iTunes
Choose your device and tap Summary
Select either This Computer
Select Restore Backup in iTunes
From the list of backups available, pick the backup you want to restore and remember to pick a backup that’s dated just before you accidentally deleted those texts messages
Tap Restore and wait for the restore to finish
For encrypted backups, enter your passcode
After your device restarts, wait for it to sync with iTunes
As of iTunes 12.7, apps are no longer managed so all apps need to be downloaded on each device
I Don’t Backup My iPhone With iCloud or iTunes, How Can I Recover My Deleted Messages?
If you don’t back up, you can try a third-party tool or ask your iPhone Cellular Provider if they store your text messages on their servers.
Join a Third-Party!
And of course, there is an app for that. There are a bunch of apps that claim to help in this exact situation.
These tools look at the data on your iDevice and scan for text message files in storage that’s ready for overwriting.
Rather than recommending a particular app, we suggest searching the App Store using a search term like Recover Deleted Texts or variations.
Check out what the options are and make sure you read the reviews.
Some apps work as promised, while others do not, so it’s best to check those reviews to see if the app lives up to its promises.
For most of her professional life, Amanda Elizabeth (Liz for short) trained all sorts of folks on how to use media as a tool to tell their own unique stories. She knows a thing or two about teaching others and creating how-to guides!
Her clients include Edutopia, Scribe Video Center, Third Path Institute, Bracket, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Big Picture Alliance.
Elizabeth received her Master of Fine Arts degree in media making from Temple University, where she also taught undergrads as an adjunct faculty member in their department of Film and Media Arts.
Deleting unread messages accidentally is a very frustrating thing that you can do. Nonetheless, these solutions you have provided are effective ways to retrieve them. I have a similar thing tool that I am using to retrieve them. This software is AceThinker Fone Keeper. I hope you can also add it on your future posts.
If this question is asked all the time you would think Apple would come up with a better way to retrieve your messages with out having to wipe your phone clean. Wiping a phone clean and doing a reinstall and then needing to log back into all your favorite apps is a pain in the ass…
Why not just make them available online via iCloud? Maybe allow retrieval for up to 90 days. Let a person login to there account and see the message they are looking for and worst case screen shot the message or best case allow the person to forward the message back to their phone? With todays technology I’m sure it can be done. Hell as greedy as everyone is today Apple could charge $1 for every forwarded text from iCloud…
FYI I am trying to forward a text message thread from a Macbook Pro – how to forward that thread to myself so that a copy moves to my iphone, where I accidentally deleted it from? Please help! Thanks.
I also deleted my message history with a very special person. I tried recovering from last nights backup with no luck. The message history is still on my iPad. Any way to leverage this to restore this history on my phone (it is multiple years).
You could forward those messages to yourself–that’s the easiest way.
Unfortunately, although Apple allows us to restore a device from a backup of another kind of device, like your iPad backup for your iPhone, Apple does not include any photos, Messages, and attachments in Messages, or Voice Memos in that restore. So trying to restore your iPad’s backup to your iPhone won’t include those messages either.
To forward to yourself, open Messages on your iPad.
Tap open a message you want to forward
Long press on any one item, like a photo or message bubble
Choose More from the pop-up menu
Checkmark all the items you want to forward
Tap the send arrow
Enter your own name again (or email/Apple ID)
Press Send
I accidentally deleted 2 very important text streams. I went to an apple store and they restored my phone off of a backup from the day prior to the time when I deleted them. They said they thought it should come back but they did not. Is there something I can still do? I am quite sad because they contained many photos of our new baby. Thanks for any help you may have!
If you use Messages in iCloud (Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Messages), your messages are no longer stored as part of your iPhone’s backup via iCloud. Instead, they store and sync directly on iCloud via its synching service. That means that when you delete a message from Messages in iCloud, it’s gone from all connected devices that also have Messages in iCloud enabled. And there is no way to retrieve a deleted message once it’s deleted from Messages in iCloud.
Can a 3rd party vendor help if the restore did not work? Or am I totally out of luck?? I feel like this happens enough there should be a fix… Thanks for your help!!!
It’s unlikely. If you recently switched to saving your Messages in iCloud, then a backup made BEFORE that switch should contain messages up to that date (the day of the backup). So you might have a backup from that time…
If you are using a Mac, the best place to find a deleted message from iPhone or iPad is in FINDER, Library (finder menu: GO+ALT), Messages, Archive……… and there they are, the messages – you might be able to find the one you lost or deleted by accident. You can keep them there for as long as you want.
Can I retrieve a text message conversation, including photos, if I accidentally deleted it? I do not back up my phone regularly with iTunes or iCloud. It has been a long time.
Thanks.
If you don’t use a Mac for messages, then the only remaining option is third-party services. However, these often yield inconsistent results or don’t work. So we don’t recommend any particular app for that reason.
Do a search for apps that restore deleted texts and make sure you read user reviews before using or purchasing these apps–check that they deliver on what they promise.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a way to get that message thread back into the Message App without forwarding it to yourself (or others.)
As you mention, you could restore from a backup taken BEFORE you accidentally deleted that text message–but you would lose any data, including photos and texts and more, created AFTER that date through now.
We suggest you save and print that very important text thread so you have it elsewhere, just in case something happens to that data. You can copy that text thread file onto an external drive or thumb drive for safekeeping and print it as well.
Turning on Messages in iCloud should not impact these message archive files–but better safe than sorry!
If you do decide to turn this feature on, make sure you also check the boxes in Message App Preferences to Keep messages Forever and to Save history when conversation are closed.
Also, back up your Mac via Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, or a backup method of choice. That is extra insurance for your Mac’s data including those very important text conversations.
Hi there and thanks for asking this question. And the good news is that no, your restored messages do not get resent to the recipient (unless you decide to resend the message yourself.)
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Why is there not a deleted folder ffs ?
Deleting unread messages accidentally is a very frustrating thing that you can do. Nonetheless, these solutions you have provided are effective ways to retrieve them. I have a similar thing tool that I am using to retrieve them. This software is AceThinker Fone Keeper. I hope you can also add it on your future posts.
If this question is asked all the time you would think Apple would come up with a better way to retrieve your messages with out having to wipe your phone clean. Wiping a phone clean and doing a reinstall and then needing to log back into all your favorite apps is a pain in the ass…
Why not just make them available online via iCloud? Maybe allow retrieval for up to 90 days. Let a person login to there account and see the message they are looking for and worst case screen shot the message or best case allow the person to forward the message back to their phone? With todays technology I’m sure it can be done. Hell as greedy as everyone is today Apple could charge $1 for every forwarded text from iCloud…
Thank yiu! This helped me! ☺
Can you get back deleted texts on your phone if you don’t have a iPhone
FYI I am trying to forward a text message thread from a Macbook Pro – how to forward that thread to myself so that a copy moves to my iphone, where I accidentally deleted it from? Please help! Thanks.
Please can you include precise directions to do the following that you suggested in the above help sheet?
‘…so if you use Messages on your Mac or another iDevice, forward that thread to yourself so a copy moves to the device where you deleted it.’
I have no idea how to forward a message thread to myself? I’ve searched the web for more details on this, but I can’t find an answer.
Please help in advising how one actually doe this? Thanks.
I also deleted my message history with a very special person. I tried recovering from last nights backup with no luck. The message history is still on my iPad. Any way to leverage this to restore this history on my phone (it is multiple years).
Hi Jerry,
You could forward those messages to yourself–that’s the easiest way.
Unfortunately, although Apple allows us to restore a device from a backup of another kind of device, like your iPad backup for your iPhone, Apple does not include any photos, Messages, and attachments in Messages, or Voice Memos in that restore. So trying to restore your iPad’s backup to your iPhone won’t include those messages either.
To forward to yourself, open Messages on your iPad.
Tap open a message you want to forward
Long press on any one item, like a photo or message bubble
Choose More from the pop-up menu
Checkmark all the items you want to forward
Tap the send arrow
Enter your own name again (or email/Apple ID)
Press Send
I have multiple years of messages….. Seems unlikely that I can do that for all of them :-(. This really sucks.
I accidentally deleted 2 very important text streams. I went to an apple store and they restored my phone off of a backup from the day prior to the time when I deleted them. They said they thought it should come back but they did not. Is there something I can still do? I am quite sad because they contained many photos of our new baby. Thanks for any help you may have!
HI Nicole,
If you use Messages in iCloud (Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Messages), your messages are no longer stored as part of your iPhone’s backup via iCloud. Instead, they store and sync directly on iCloud via its synching service. That means that when you delete a message from Messages in iCloud, it’s gone from all connected devices that also have Messages in iCloud enabled. And there is no way to retrieve a deleted message once it’s deleted from Messages in iCloud.
Sorry about that!
Can a 3rd party vendor help if the restore did not work? Or am I totally out of luck?? I feel like this happens enough there should be a fix… Thanks for your help!!!
Hi Nicole,
It’s unlikely. If you recently switched to saving your Messages in iCloud, then a backup made BEFORE that switch should contain messages up to that date (the day of the backup). So you might have a backup from that time…
Sometimes when I try to delete one item in a conversation it deletes everything!
It gives me the option to select what to delete with the little bubbles.
I click on what I want deleted, and that bubble only turns blue and I delete but everything deletes.
What I try to delete usually is a shared web page that I can’t turn the action off.
What am I not understanding about this?
Please help!
Hi Carol,
Are you pressing the Delete All button instead of the trash can?
To delete certain items from a message thread
1) Open the conversation
2) Press on one item until a menu pops-up
3) Choose the More… button
4) Tap each item you want to remove
5) Press the trashcan icon NOT the Delete All button
Hopefully, that was the issue. If not, let us know
Liz
Thanks for your sharing.
Restore from iCloud backup is quite useful and I found my lost data.
As you said, I searched “Recover Deleted Messages” on the net and I found an excellent software, which is FoneDog iOS Data Recovery.
I tried this tool and I found it cost much less time to recover deleted data.
I’ll keep this software in case I accidentally delete important files in the future! Anyway, thank you for your suggestion. It’s really helpful.
finding deleted messages:
If you are using a Mac, the best place to find a deleted message from iPhone or iPad is in FINDER, Library (finder menu: GO+ALT), Messages, Archive……… and there they are, the messages – you might be able to find the one you lost or deleted by accident. You can keep them there for as long as you want.
Can I retrieve a text message conversation, including photos, if I accidentally deleted it? I do not back up my phone regularly with iTunes or iCloud. It has been a long time.
Thanks.
Hi Abby,
If you don’t back up to iCloud or iTunes, it’s a lot more difficult to recover those deleted texts and photos.
If you have a Mac and use Messages on it (and use the same Apple ID as your iPhone), then follow the directions in this post about locating text message archives on your Mac.
If you don’t use a Mac for messages, then the only remaining option is third-party services. However, these often yield inconsistent results or don’t work. So we don’t recommend any particular app for that reason.
Do a search for apps that restore deleted texts and make sure you read user reviews before using or purchasing these apps–check that they deliver on what they promise.
Deleted a very important text thread the end of January.
Through your article, I just discovered that the old thread remains on my iMac.
I do not use iCloud Messages.
My question is whether there is a way to get the old thread back on my iPhone, intact, rather than “forwarding” it to myself.
I am afraid that if I activate iCloud Messages now, it will delete my old thread on my iMac.
I do have an iCloud backup of my iPhone, but do not want to revert EVERYTHING back over a month.
Any solutions here? Thanks!
Hi Scott,
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a way to get that message thread back into the Message App without forwarding it to yourself (or others.)
As you mention, you could restore from a backup taken BEFORE you accidentally deleted that text message–but you would lose any data, including photos and texts and more, created AFTER that date through now.
We suggest you save and print that very important text thread so you have it elsewhere, just in case something happens to that data. You can copy that text thread file onto an external drive or thumb drive for safekeeping and print it as well.
Turning on Messages in iCloud should not impact these message archive files–but better safe than sorry!
If you do decide to turn this feature on, make sure you also check the boxes in Message App Preferences to Keep messages Forever and to Save history when conversation are closed.
Also, back up your Mac via Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, or a backup method of choice. That is extra insurance for your Mac’s data including those very important text conversations.
Liz
I’ve just now deleted “Poem of the day” from my mail box, but can’t retrieve it. Kindly help me.
Two days before deleting text massage viewing
Recovery delected text message
Backup my message
What Do you do.there is only an arrow and some dots
Hi Claire,
Where are you seeing the arrow and dots?
SK
When I restore deleted messages on iphone will they also appear on the recipients iphone?
Mary,
Hi there and thanks for asking this question. And the good news is that no, your restored messages do not get resent to the recipient (unless you decide to resend the message yourself.)
Cheers,
SK
How do I retrieve a text I havnt sent but have written on my inohone
Virginia, Not sure there is a way to get back those draft messages.