How To See Deleted Texts On iPhone

Find Old Messages By Scanning Itunes/icloud Backup

Like we mentioned before, you can find old messages from an iTunes or iCloud backup if you restore the backup to the device. But while restoring the iPhone might bring back some of your old or missing messages, there are a few problems with using this approach. Some of the most problematic include the following:

• You are not able to view the contents of an iCloud or iTunes backup until the restore process is complete. This means that you will not be able to know if the messages you need are actually in the backup until the process is complete. Also, because you canât view the contents of an iCloud or iTunes backup, you are not able to choose which messages can be recovered.
• Restoring a device from an iTunes or iCloud backup is a process that can also lead to data loss. During the restore process, all the data and settings on your device will be deleted. This means that all the new photos, new messages, new contacts and any other new data that may not be included in the backup will be permanently erased.

D-Back helps you avoid all these issues by scanning the iCloud or iTunes backup file and helping you find the missing messages. Hereâs how to do it:

Spotlight Search iPhone To Find Deleted Messages

If you want to look at deleted texts on iPhone/iPad again, you may start to ask: how to retrieve iPhone messages? Let’s stop here. Before you ask this question, let’s come to a basic one: do iPhone messages really get deleted?

The truth is, messages on iPhone don’t actually get deleted. Apple iOS software stores every message on your iPhone, even when you delete them. Spotlight Search is the easiest way to help you find messages you deleted on iPhone or iPad. Go to “Settings” > “General” > “Spotlight Search” and turn on “Messages”, then enter the key words of the text messages in the Spotlight Search bar. You’ll notice that the text conversations you have already deleted on iPhone shows up!

Note: If you want remove iPhone messages permanently, the only way is to reset iPhone or restore iPhone to factory settings.

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Search Recently Deleted iPhone Messages

STEP 1 Download and install FonePaw iPhone Data Recovery.

STEP 2 Launch the program on your computer. Then connect your iPhone to the computer. You’ll then get a pop-up window asking you to tap Trust on your iPhone to trust this computer.

STEP 3 After the program detects the device, click the Start Scan button for the program to search recently deleted iMessages and text messages on your iPhone.

STEP 4 When the search is completed, the program displays all the files it found including recently deleted messages/iMessages. You can choose Only display the deleted items to find the deleted messages that you need.

STEP 5 To look up a specific text, you can input the texter’s name, phone number, or email partially in the search box at the right corner of the interface.

STEP 6 Select the message by clicking the checkboxes. Hit the Recover button to save the conversation on a computer.

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Restoring Texts With A Third

As a last resort, you can try a number of reputable third-party apps that allow you to retrieve lost text messages from your iPhone. Just plug your iPhone into your computer, launch the app, and follow the on-screen directions. These apps tend to function similarly and can recover many file types, from texts to call history. Below are a few weve discovered that can help you get a handle on this task.

Option : View Deleted Imessages On iPhone Directly

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How To Retrieve Deleted Messages On iPhone With Finder

If Your texts were not backed up in iCloud, you may also open Finder on your Mac to see if you have a backup of the phone locally as well as verify when it was last backed up. You will want to have a backup from before the text was deleted.

1. Open your Mac and plug in your phone with a USB-C to Lightning or USB cable .

2. When prompted, tap Trust This Computer.

3. Open Finder and locate your phone in the sidebar. If you’re on a Windows PC or Mac with macOS 10.14 or older, open iTunes.

4. In General tab, click Restore iPhone.

5. Select a recent backup from the list, and click Restore.

How To Search For Messages On iPhone Using Siri

Finally, you can also use Siri to search text messages on your iOS devices. You only need to call out Siri, ask it for the text message you are looking for, and it will help you find the text message successfully.

• Launch Siri on your iPhone.
• Ask Siri for “Check new messages” and it will automatically check whether you have received any new messages.
• You can ask Siri for “Search in messages” and it will do what you say.
• You can also change different query sentences until you find the message you want.

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Apple Has Not Yet Provided A Simple Way To Restore Deleted Text Messages On Your iPhone Though You Can Use Icloud Backups

You can use a recent iCloud backup on your iPhone to restore your deleted text messages

• Recovering deleted text messages from an iPhone is possible
• iCloud backups can be useful for restoring old text messages
• iPhone users can also restore using iTunes or Finder on their system

Recovering deleted text messages on an iPhone is possible through a few ways. We all receive several text messages on a daily basis that aren’t useful. For this, most of us select multiple messages on our iPhone and delete them in one shot. That process sometimes takes important messages away alongside removing junk and spam. There are also scenarios where you delete an important text message accidentally and find no simple way to get it back on your iPhone.

Apple has enabled the iPhone with iCloud integration to store backups of content including text messages. But retrieving texts from an iCloud backup requires some prior knowledge. There is also not a standalone option provided by the iPhone maker to restore deleted messages in just one go.

# 2 Read Deleted Text Messages From Itunes Backup

This method will allow the downloaded iBeesoft iPhone Data Recovery software to read old messages from your iPhone through your iTunes backup file.

Note: This will retrieve previous iTunes backup files that are saved on your trusted computer. You should install the iPhone data recovery tool on the same computer where you backed up your device via iTunes.

This helps you in viewing and retrieving your iPhone text messages without compromising your current iPhone data.

Open the data recovery software installed on your computer then click on “Recover from iTunes“. This will detect all iTunes backup files from your computer. Select and click on the “Recover” button beside the file you need.

Once the scan is done, you can now preview all your iPhone messages. Choose all the messages you need to save on your computer then start the recovery process by clicking on the “Recover” button.

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How To Delete A Message On iPhone

Deleting text messages is matter of several taps on the screen. To delete a single message:

1. Open a thread.

2. Touch and hold the message bubble you want to delete, then tap More.

3. Tap the Trash icon, and then Delete Message. If you want to delete all messages in this thread, tap Delete All in the top-left corner, and then tap Delete Conversation to confirm.

To deleted a conversation or thread:

1. Locate the conversion you tend to get rid of.

2. Swipe to the left until you see Delete.

3. Tap Delete, then tap Delete again to confirm the action.

Besides that, there’s an option that you can configure your phone to automatically delete texts after a month or a year. In Settings app, tap Messages > Keep Messages, and choose either 30 days or 1 Year.

The solutions above should help recovering deleted messages. If you have an iCloud backup or iTunes backup, you could restore your iPhone to factory settings and get back the text history. This is also an effective way if you would not like to invest any software.

In case you couldn’t find the deleted text even after restoring via iTunes backup or iCloud backup, then thereâs no recourse but to grab the iPhone Data Recovery tool. With it, you should quickly see whether a file will have a good or poor chance at recovering. Next Up: How to Back Up iPhone Safely to against deletion in future.

Case 3 When You Have No Backup And The Deleted Text Messages Are Replaced

In this case, you can only ask help from your cellular carrier. There are chances that your deleted text messages are stored on their server.

To prevent this kind of dilemma, you need to:

This quick solution may fail because the deletion maybe have been sycned to iCloud already. Then you can choose from the following solutions according to your situation.

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Recover All Deleted Messages On iPhone With Itunes

iPhone SMS recovery is possible only if you have already created an iPhone backup. If you donât regularly back up your iPhone data, this method mightnât be the best way. As you know, every standard way does have certain limitations. Unless the prerequisites are met, you canât get the best out of it.

Here are some prerequisites/cautions that you must consider when you wish to recover deleted text messages on iPhone using iTunes backup.

• The downside of recovering deleted messages on iPhone in this process is it will overwrite all the existing files on your iPhone, including old messages.
• It canât selectively recover deleted messages iPhone, as the entire backup is restored to your iPhone.
• You need to upgrade to the latest version of iTunes, before retrieving the data or you may end up with several unknown errors.
• Use the same computer that your iPhone is synced with and has a backup on iTunes.
• Donât connect to iTunes right after you know that messages were deleted, first turn off iTunes automatic sync on your computer then opt for restoring a backup to your iPhone.

Letâs discover the detailed process of recovering deleted messages on iPhone from iTunes now:

Option 2 Selectively Extract Deleted iPhone Messages From Itunes Backup

This option only works when you have made an available iTunes backup before. Official iTunes does not allow you to view its content, so you will not know whether it contains the messages you need unless you perform the restore.

Now iMyFone D-Back can completely overcome this because it allows you to want to view and check whether an iTunes backup includes the needed messages. Here’s how.

Step 1. Choose “Recover from iTunes backup” and click “Start“. Then you will see all iTunes backups on the computer. Choose one from those listed and then click “Next“.

Step 2. Select “Message” as the type of data to recover. Click “Scan” to allow the program to scan the selected backup file.

Step 3. When the scan completes, all messages will be displayed. Select the ones you want and click “Recover” to save them.

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Preview And Recover Deleted Messages

After FoneDog iOS Data Recovery Software is done extracting all of your deleted text messages, you will be able to see them on your screen. Have them previewed one by one. Once you’re done, go ahead and click “Recover” button below.

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Option 1 Recover Deleted Messages Directly From iPhone Without Backup

How to use iMyFone D-Back to scan your device and look for/recover the deleted text messages? The following are the specific steps for your reference.

Step 1. Download and install D-Back on your computer. Run the program on your computer and then choose “Recover from iOS Device“.

Step 2. Connect the iPhone to the computer and then click “Next” as soon as the program recognizes the device.

Step 3. Choose “Message” from the next window and click “Scan” to start scanning your phone for the deleted text messages.

Step 4. After a few minutes, you should see all the recoverable messages on the next screen. Choose the ones you want to recover and then click “Recover“, the program will let you choose one folder to store the text messages you need.

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Recover Deleted Messages Directly From iPhone Without Any Backup File

If you accidently deleted the messages without backing up them via iCloud or iTunes, how about now? No worry, Syncios Data Recovery supports recovering data directly from your iOS devices as well. Follow the steps below.

Step 1Scan your iPhone with Syncios Data Recovery.

In this section, you need to connect your iPhone to computer first, select Recover from iOS device module after launching the program, then click Start Scan button, the program will begin scanning all the data on your iPhone, this process would take some time that up to how much data on your iPhone, please be patient.

Step 2 Preview and recover the lost data.

Once the analysis process is finished, you can preview all found data on the program interface. Click on Messages option on the panel, then all conversations will show up. Similarly, you are allowed to view deleted chats only by clicking on Only display deleted items. After that, simply choose those messages you need, click Recover button.

Step 3 Recover found data to device directly.

Also, you would receive a prompt Recover to Computer or Recover to Device, just select your desired path and get your deleted messages recovered. And your iPhone would reboot automatically after the process done.

Use Your Icloud Backup To Recover Deleted Text Messages

Many iPhone users take advantage of Apples iCloud to back up their devices. If you are one of them, you can use the backup to recover deleted iPhone messages. But there is a catch. During the process, you will be resetting your iPhone to its original factory settings. This might result in other issues that you would rather avoid. If thats the case, skip this method and read on to find other recovery options.

First, check to see if you have a backup and when it was created by going to Settings > > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups.

Tap on the iPhone listed under backups to see the size and data of the latest backup. Once you verify that you want to use that backup for the restore, continue with the following steps.

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Why Is It Possible To Recover Deleted Text Messages From iPhone

Before you recover iPhone deleted text messages, you have to know that after you remove a message from iPhone, the message doesn’t really get deleted. Because the deleted messages is technically marked for deletion by the system and hidden so that they become invisible to us. So deleted messages still stays somewhere on iPhone and you can retrieve them as long as you find those marked and hidden messages files. Thats why you can recover deleted text messages and get them back from your iPhone.

How to find those marked and hidden messages files, and retrieve invisible text messages on iPhone? Actually, there are three ways to retrieve lost or deleted messages of iPhone. If you have a previous backup saved with iTunes or your iCloud, you are able to restore your iPhone text messages from backup. Otherwise, you will need to use a third party iPhone data recovery software or SMS recovery software and restore the deleted message from your iPhone to your computer. Keep reading to learn more about each method.

Recover Deleted Text Messages On iPhone 8 With Icloud Backup

An iCloud backup also includes your iPhone text messages. Thus, if you have backed up your iPhone with iCloud recently, it’s workable to retrieve deleted messages on your iPhone 8 using an iCloud backup.

Since you can only restore an iPhone from an iCloud backup during a setup process, you need to go to “Settings” > “General” > “Reset” to erase all data and settings on the iOS device first. Afterward, follow the steps below to restore your iPhone data.

Step 1. Set up your iPhone until you see the Apps & Data screen.

Step 2. Tap “Restore from iCloud Backup.”

Step 3. Sign in to your iCloud account and select a backup.

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