How to Recover Permanently Deleted Text Messages on iPhone

As one of your frequently used iPhone apps, the Message app may contain some important text messages and iMessages that you would like to keep forever. But what to do if you mistakenly deleted the messages while cleaning the storage of your iPhone, or you accidentally lose all text conversations after an iOS update, iPhone restores or device jailbreak, etc?

So you may wonder “Can I recover deleted text messages on my iPhone?” Well, the answer is YES on most occasions. But how to retrieve deleted text conversations exactly? How to get back deleted texts with or without a backup? Here in this post, keep reading and you can find an answer.

Can I Recover Permanently Deleted Text Messages on iPhone?

If you have backed up your iPhone

Definitely, there is a chance to recover permanently deleted iPhone messages. By restoring iTunes and iCloud backup, you can undelete messages on your iPhone.

If you have no backup of your iPhone

There is still a chance to get back. When the data is deleted, we cannot see it on the iPhone, but it is still in the internal storage unless some other new data takes up its storage position, which is called data overwriting. Therefore, you can also get back deleted messages in this situation.

And now, based on the possible situations where you may be stuck, we have collected 6 practical methods to help you get back deleted text messages on your iPhone. All methods support all iPhone models, including the newest iPhone 16 series.

Recover Deleted Text Messages from iPhone/iPad without Backup

The easiest way to recover permanently deleted messages on iPhone is using an iPhone data recovery tool. PhoneRescue for iOS is highly recommended for permanently deleted messages recovery without backup. It offers you 3 recovery modes all in one place: Recover from iOS Device, Recover from Backup, and Recover from iCloud. These three Recovery Modes ensure you the highest rate of recovery. Recovering from the iOS Device enables you to directly get deleted/lost messages back from your iPhone or iPad. The steps are simple & quick, with no tech skills needed. iPhone messages, including WhatsApp messages, can be recovered in clicks. Besides, you can preview and choose messages to recover with more flexibility.

So, if you want to retrieve deleted text messages on iPhone without backup, Phonerescue for iOS is the first and best way to preview the messages and get them back:

Step 1. Download PhoneRescue for iOS to your PC or Mac computer, and install and run it.

Step 2. Connect your iPhone to the computer using a USB cable, choose Recover from iOS Device and click Right Arrow to continue.

Step 3. Check the Messages category and click Okay to scan only the deleted messages on iPhone.

Step 4. Preview and recover deleted text conversations. After scanning, you can see the text conversations below. Check the items that you want to recover, and click the To Computer or To Device button to retrieve them back to your computer or your iPhone.

Check Recently Deleted Texts on iPhone without Backup

Check the Recently Deleted folder is the best free way to retrieve messages. From the iPhone 14 running with iOS 16, the Messages allows you to recover recently deleted messages and conversations within 30 – 40 days. Here are the steps:

1. Open Messages and enter Recently Deleted.
2. Check the messages and conversations that you want to recover, and click Recover (the Delete button will permanently delete the messages).
3. Click Recover xxx Messages to confirm these messages will be recovered to your inbox.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Messages on Computer

1. Recover from iTunes Backup with PhoneRescue for iOS

As we mentioned before, PhoneRescue for iOS also allows you to recover messages from iTunes backup or another backup on computer. Compared to iTunes /iCloud, PhoneRescue enables you to preview the contents in the backup files and restore only the deleted messages to your iPhone with no need to reset your iPhone. Besides, it can also automatically compare the data between iPhone and its backup to accurately find what you’ve lost. Even you can save them as printable documents like HTML.

Step 1. Download PhoneRescue for iOS to your computer, install and run it on your computer.

Step 2. Select Recover from Backup will help you get data back from iTunes or other backups on the computer, and then click the right arrow at the bottom right corner of this screen.

Step 3. Select iTunes backup based on size, created time and iOS version to find where the deleted texts are stored. If you click the “Only Scan Backup” button, PhoneRescue will scan and display all data in the backup. However, if you click the “Compare” button, PhoneRescue will compare data located in the backup with data in your device. And then it will only display data that don’t exist in your device.

Step 4. Check Messages to continue. You can check Select All or only Messages and click OK to get all text messages and iMessages on iTunes backup.

Step 5. Preview all messages conversations on your iTunes backup, select the messages you want to retrieve, and click To Device to restore the deleted messages to your iPhone or choose to recover to your computer.

2. Recover Deleted Messages from iTunes/Finder Backup

If you are sure that the iTunes backup contains the messages that you’ve lost or deleted, this could be another way to retrieve deleted text messages on your iPhone. But restore will erase the contents on your iPhone and then put all data from the backup to your device. Not only the messages but also the photos, contacts, and everything will be restored from the iPhone backup to your device. Please turn off Find My iPhone before the restoration.

1. On Windows PC and macOS Mojave and earlier

On the Windows PC or macOS Mojave and earlier you can use iTunes to restore iPhone messages:

Step 1. Run iTunes and connect the iPhone to the computer.

Step 2. Click Summary and click Restore Backup.

Step 3. Choose a backup and click Restore to start.

Step 4. Click Restore to restore iPhone messages.

2. On macOS Catalina and later

You can use Finder to restore your iPhone deleted messages on macOS Catalina and later:

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac computer. Open Finder and find your iPhone under Locations.
2. Click on your iPhone and choose Manage Backups to select a backup you think will contain the deleted iPhone messages, then click OK.
3. Then click on Restore iPhone… to start to restore your iPhone backup.

Further Reading: Fix iTunes Preparing iPhone for Restore Stuck >

How to Retrieve iPhone Texts from iCloud Backup

1. Recover from iCloud Backup Locally

Similar to iTunes restore, this method will also erase your iPhone, and then put all things from the iCloud backup to your iPhone. If you are sure there are deleted messages stored in the backup, you can now follow us to restore the iPhone from iCloud here.

Here is how to retrieve iPhone messages from iCloud backup:

1. Run the Settings app on your iPhone, go to General > Reset, and tap Reset All Content and Settings.
2. Input your passcode to continue the erase, and this will delete all media and data and reset all settings.
3. Wait for some time until your iPhone finishes the erase. (The screen will show only the Apple icon.)
4. After the erase is finished, now you can start setting up your iPhone. (Language, country, and keyboard)
5. Input password to connect to the WiFi and activate your iPhone. And set up passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID.
6. Input your Apple ID and password.  On the App & Data Screen, tap Restore from iCloud backup and then log in to your iCloud.
7. Choose Backup and start to restore messages and everything to your iPhone.

2. Recover from iCloud Backup with PhoneRescue for iOS

Step 1. Download PhoneRescue for iOS to your PC or Mac, install and run it.

Step 2. Select Recover from iCloud.

Step 3. Sign in to your iCloud account. Now you should Log in with your Apple ID and password, PhoneRescue will extract data from iCloud.

Step 4. Click iCloud Backup.

Step 5. Download backup based on its created time, size, and iOS version, and then select only Messages to get all message conversations on your iCloud backup.

Step 6. Preview the conversations on iCloud backup, check the items you want to recover, and click To Device to recover them to your iPhone. Or click To Computer to save text messages and iMessages to the computer.

Further Reading: How to Fix iCloud Restore Stuck >

Restore iPhone Messages with iCloud Messages

After iOS 11.4, the iCloud Messages feature is available on all iOS devices, and messages will sync among iOS devices if you are logged in with the same Apple ID and turn on iCloud Messages. You can see the Messages option under iCloud Settings on your iPhone, and when you log into icloud.com, you can see a messages icon. So if your iPhone messages get deleted, you can try to retrieve them from iCloud Messages. Here is how:

1.  Go to the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Tap [your name] and tap iCloud.
3. Disable the Messages app by toggling it off.
4. And then enable Messages again.
5. Go to your Messages app you will see the “Downloading Messages from iCloud…” notification under the screen.

Retrieve Deleted Messages on iPhone from Your Cellular Provider

This way depends, but it costs nothing to ask. Some cellular service providers keep your text messages and calls.

You can call customer services to have a try. Please be polite and reasonable.

The Bottom Line

The above are all methods we know to recover deleted iPhone messages, you can choose the one you need. If you have any questions about this article or some other iPhone-related problems, please leave a comment. At last, don’t forget to download the free trial of PhoneRescue for iOS to have a try!