Recover deleted text messages on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support (2024)

FAQs

Recover deleted text messages on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support? ›

You need iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1, or later to recover deleted messages and conversations. You can only recover messages and conversations that you deleted within the last 30 to 40 days.

You need iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1, or later to recover deleted messages and conversations. You can only recover messages and conversations that you deleted within the last 30 to 40 days.

Check if your messaging app has this feature and look for the deleted messages in the recycle bin folder. 2. Use a free data recovery tool: A data recovery tools available that can recover deleted text messages from Android on Windows 11 computer.

If you use Messages in iCloud, deleting a message or conversation on your iPhone deletes it from all your devices where Messages in iCloud is on.

Even when you 'permanently' clear messages, you're simply getting the phone to stop listing it in the deleted items folder. You can't recover such texts on the phone itself, but there are plenty of commercially available software packages you can buy that allow your PC to read data directly from a SIM card.

How to Retrieve Deleted Text Messages. On Android, go into the Google Drive associated with the phone and look for deleted texts in the backup folder. On iPhone, see if a backup exists in the phone's iCloud account, then restore the phone to read old texts. Keep in mind, this may be illegal depending on where you live.

The Recently Deleted section in Messages will show all messages you've deleted within the past 30 days.

In the Messages app , you can recover deleted messages on your iPad. You can restore messages you deleted for up to 30 days.

When you delete something on an iPad, where does it go? ›

Delete files on your iPhone or iPad

When you delete files from iCloud Drive or On My [device] in the Files app, they go into your Recently Deleted.

Retrieve deleted texts by contacting your carrier

It may be possible to get your lost texts back by contacting your phone provider.

How Far Back Can Text Messages be Retrieved on iPhone? As we mentioned above, you can easily scroll to the first message on iMessage only if the conversation history is kept on your iPhone. It means that you can retrieve text messages on iPhone even 4 years ago or longer.

Google Messages doesn't offer a recycle bin. Your texts are gone forever after deletion unless you back them up to the cloud. If you use a Samsung, OnePlus, or another device running custom Android versions, your message app has a bin.

You can view and recover items in the Recently Deleted folder for up to 30 days. After 30 days, the messages are removed from all your devices. After 40 days, the messages are permanently deleted from iCloud.

You can choose to automatically delete your iMessages from your device after 30 days or a year, or to keep them on your device forever. For your convenience, SMS, MMS, Apple Messages for Business, and iMessages are backed up in iCloud and encrypted if you have enabled either iCloud Backup or Messages in iCloud.

Restore your messages from the backup

After loading the recent backup, you can select the data that you wish to restore. You can restore photos, contacts, call logs, app data, and more. To restore text messages from iCloud, select the option of “Text Messages” and click on the “Restore to device” button.