How To Restore your iPhone's Deleted Text Messages

Retrieve deleted messages from the Recently Deleted One new feature in iOS 16 and iPadOS 16.1 is the ability to retrieve deleted texts. The only restriction is that you must complete the task within 30 days.

January 31, 2020

To recover a deleted message from Recently Deleted, follow these steps: Click on Messages. On the upper left, tap Filters. Press on Deleted Shortly Ago. Messages that were removed during the last 30 days are available here. One tap on It will retrieve it. The message will now flow back into your Messages when you press on Recover.

To recover a deleted message from Recently Deleted, follow these steps: Click on Messages. On the upper left, tap Filters. Press on Deleted Shortly Ago. Messages that were removed during the last 30 days are available here. One tap on It will retrieve it. The message will now flow back into your Messages when you press on Recover.

The easiest method to recover the deleted texts is probably to use a backup, if you have one, if the deletion occurred more than 30 days ago, if you don't have iOS 16 or later, or if you lost the messages as a result of an unsuccessful update.

Use an iCloud backup to retrieve deleted texts & Find Backup.

Choose the Right Backup Option

You can tap on the backup of your iPhone to find out when it was last backed up before you erased the messages. You'll see a list of backups for your devices.

Restore to factory settings

This is where it gets irritating. It will be necessary for you to restore your iPhone from an iCloud backup when you reset it to factory settings and start over. Keep in mind that all of your data from the period following the backup will be lost, so hopefully those texts are truly crucial!

Restore from iCloud backup

Choose to restore from an iCloud backup and pick the backup that is dated before you erased your text message after your iPhone restarts and starts the setup procedure.

You can use Finder to back up your iPhone to your Mac if you don't want to rely on automated iCloud backups or don't have enough iCloud storage space for them. Similar to the iCloud approach, this calls for backing up your phone before erasing the message and then restoring from that backup.

Retrieve deleted text messages from a Finder or iTunes backup

Everything that came after the backup will be lost. Therefore, export any current files you wish to save and store them separately. Link your iPhone to the computer or Mac that has the backup file(s). Open iTunes on a PC, or Finder on a Mac. An iPhone icon ought to show up in iTunes' upper left corner. Choose it. Choose your device from the menu bar on the left in Finder. Select Restore Backup now. This option is located on the General tab of Finder.

Bear in mind that none of these methods are foolproof. If you don’t have a backup you can restore from before the time you deleted your text message, there’s only a very slim possibility of ever getting it back.