How to Recover Deleted Text Messages on iPhone

Don't panic! Accidentally deleted messages are only sometimes lost forever. Act quickly and follow these instructions on recovering deleted text messages on an iPhone.

Here's how to recover text messages from iPhone

We have tons of texts on our iPhones for the current year alone. They often stay there out of sheer negligence on our part (except for spam, which was just deleted). 

It's natural to want to keep some of them, such as romantic exchanges, photos of friends and family, and even work documents containing important information and passwords. 

Their disappearance would undoubtedly make us panic. And an accident happens so quickly: it's essential to know how to recover deleted messages on iPhone.

If your smartphone is an iPhone, it should be possible to recover the texts with a quick response. Read on for ways, tips, and tricks on how to do this, including MMS and text messages showing a green bubble that an iPhone does not send.

What you need to know to protect your cell phone.

How is this text message recovery possible?

Now that you know you can recover your messages, you might wonder how it works. Because if something is deleted, isn't it forever? Not necessarily, says Mark Soto, founder of Cybericus, a Milwaukee-based cybersecurity firm that does delete text and email recovery for forensics. 

"Text messages from an iPhone are stored in a database in a file form called SQLite. These messages are not immediately deleted from the database, but rather added to types of lists called free software. 

The messages from these free software are then accessible through iTunes and in your iCloud Backup. It is how forensic science agencies do it."

But here's an iPhone tidbit that only Apple insiders know: these free lists get progressively "overwritten," as you send new texts. If you accidentally delete your messages, especially avoid texting until you've recovered the lost ones, warns Mark Soto.

Contacting the service provider

There are several ways to recover deleted messages, but the easiest way is to contact your service provider, says Mark Soto. "If you're lucky, they may have a backup of your recent texts and calls. We usually do this initially, before we use digital forensics software." You could also ask your service provider for your call history.

You May Also Like Latest Mobile Price in Pakistan

Recover deleted texts from iCloud.

If your service provider can't help you, you can use your iCloud Backup. You can set your iPhone for a daily backup. It includes the following information:

• App data, Apple Watch backups, device settings, home screen, and app organization.
• iMessage, text messages (SMS), and MMS messages.
• Photos and videos on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
• Purchase history of Apple services, such as music and movies, TV shows, apps, and books.
• Ringtones.
• Voicemail text display (which requires the SIM card used for Backup).

Make sure you have enough space in your iCloud for all this data.

Bruce Hogan, co-founder and CEO of SoftwarePundit offers the following step-by-step approach to phone backup and restoring it from a backup.

Steps to backing up an iPhone:

On your iPhone, start iCloud Backup by going to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.

• Connect your phone to Wi-Fi to start the Backup.
• Restore your iPhone from a backup:
• First of all, reset your phone. You can do this by navigating to Settings > General > Reset.

When your phone is reset, navigate to the App Data file. On this screen, select Restore from iCloud Backup.

Sign in to iCloud with your Apple ID, and the phone will do the Backup.

Use iTunes to recover deleted text messages.

Only some people back up with the cloud as they should. If yours is six months old, you won't be able to recover messages lost in the recent past. But you will if you've backed up your data in iTunes, says Kenny Trinh, editor of NetBookNews. Here are his tips:

• Connect your iPhone to your computer.
• Open iTunes and click the iPhone icon on the iTunes interface to access your iPhone management interface.
• On the Summary page, click Restore Backups.
• Choose your iPhone backup by date and size, then click Restore.
• Data recovery software for deleted text messages

If nothing works, consider third-party software tools, says Brett Downes, founder of link-building company HaroHelpers. 

"This could be expensive, and you need to evaluate whether this data recovery is worth it. Plus, nothing is guaranteed. But if you're desperate, this will be the next and almost ultimate possible solution."

He has used PhoneRescue, from iMobie, and adds that many experts also recommend Enigma Recovery. These tools have their instructions and costs for use. How do they work? It's all about the free lists. 

"Even deleted messages remain on your device until they are overwritten, which should allow you to recover them with this software. But don't waste time. The longer you wait, the higher the probability of having overwritten important items in the memory."

Transferring deleted texts through a third party

There's still another way to get those texts back. "If you're looking for a specific message or thread of messages, contact the person with whom you exchanged and shared those texts," says Brett Downes. They can send the bulk of the messages back to you; if there are a lot, download them and send them to you in batches."

And while we're on the subject, consider sorting through your messages and deleting obsolete ones.

Tips to remember about deleted texts

Once you've recovered your messages, ensure it doesn't happen again. "Set up Messages on iCloud," advises Bruce Hogan. It allows you to access and send messages from any Mac-sending device. If you lose your phone, your messages will still be on your computer."

Of course, this will only help if you lose your phone. If you accidentally delete your messages, the problem remains. "When you delete a message from one device, it disappears on all the others as well," says Bruce Hogan. But at least you'll still have a backup on the cloud.