How to recover deleted text messages on your iPhone with iCloud, iTunes, or third-party app
You can recover deleted text messages on your iPhone with an iCloud or iTunes backup.
It's also possible to use a third-party app to retrieve deleted iPhone messages, though you might need to pay for the app.
If all else fails, you should reach out to your cellular carrier, as they can sometimes recover deleted messages for you.
If you regularly delete your iPhone messages or recently mass deleted them to free up storage space, hopefully you saved the texts you still needed.
But in the case you didn't, and now need to recover one or more, you can retrieve your deleted texts by restoring a recent backup version from iCloud or your computer through iTunes.
And if you want to recover your deleted messages from your iPhone without having to overwrite your iPhone and lose other data, you can check to see if your iCloud account is backing up your texts or using a paid third-party app.
Here's how to do it all.
Recover deleted text messages on iPhone with an iCloud backup
If your iPhone is set to backup to iCloud, you may be able to recover a deleted text message from a recent backup by doing a full restore.
Note: An iCloud backup will revert your iPhone back to a point when you still had the deleted text messages, so you may lose some saved data or have to sign back into certain apps.
To recover deleted messages on iPhone with iCloud:
1. Open the Settings app and tap your name at the top.
2. Select iCloud > iCloud Backup and check that your iPhone has been backed up recently.
3. Go back to the main Settings menu and select General.
4. Scroll down and click Reset > Erase all Content and Settings > Erase now.
5. Your iPhone will take a few minutes to reset to factory conditions. After that, you'll be greeted with the iPhone's initial welcome screen. Go through the first few steps, and on the Apps & Data screen, choose "Restore from iCloud Backup."
6. Sign in to iCloud to access your backups, then choose which backup you want to restore from the list of iCloud backups, each of which is dated. Pick the last backup before you deleted the text messages to recover them.
Recover deleted messages on iPhone with iTunes
As long as you backed up your phone to your computer when you still had the text you wanted, you can restore deleted messages from your iPhone using iTunes - which despite Apple phasing out as a service - is still available on all Mac computers.
To retrieve deleted iPhone messages with iTunes:
1. Connect your iPhone to a computer and open iTunes, if it doesn't pop up automatically.
2. Click on the phone icon at the top of the screen and choose Summary from the menu on the left.
3. If the Restore Backup button is grayed out, change your backup selection from iCloud to This Computer. You can change it back after you find the text you need.
4. Click Restore Backup and your old texts will reappear on your phone.
Recover deleted text messages from iCloud account
This option isn't available for everyone, as iCloud doesn't back up SMS messages in every territory or for all every phone carrier. But if you have the option available, it's an easy way to restore your deleted messages without losing any data.
1. Go to iCloud.com and enter your Apple ID and password.
2. In the list of apps that appears, click the Messages app icon if it's present. If you don't see the messages option, your SMS texts haven't been backed up and you can't use this method.
3. Locate the text messages you want to recover.
4. On your iPhone, open the Settings app and tap your name.
5. Pick "iCloud" from the list of options.
6. Toggle off "Messages," if it isn't already.
7. In the prompt window that appears, choose "Keep On My iPhone."
8. Toggle "Messages" back on.
9. Select "Merge" and wait a few minutes before checking whether the deleted text messages reappear on your iPhone.
Retrieve deleted messages on iPhone with a third-party app
You can use a third-party app to selectively restore just the text you want without overwriting your whole phone. They work by pulling just the data you want from your iCloud backup.
To use either of the apps mentioned below, you will still need to have a backup where the text exists, and you'll have to pay for them - but each is a one-time purchase, not a subscription.
Phone Rescue by iMobie costs $49.99 for a single license and $69.99 for a family pack of five licenses. It allows you to rummage around in your backups and retrieve just the deleted data you need. This app also promises to help revive your iPhone if it dies.
Enigma Recovery costs $59.99 for a single license and $69.99 for a pack of 3. For $199.99 you can get unlimited downloads. The app can scan your messages and let you choose which ones to restore. You'll need the Restore iOS app to complete the restore, but that one is free.
Recover deleted messages from your carrier
If all else fails, consider reaching out to your phone carrier. Some service providers keep a record of your text messages like they keep a record of your calls.
You can access them, but you'll either need to log in to your carrier account or use the service provider's customer service line. Either way, it's a good last-ditch effort to retrieve that deleted message from your iPhone.
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