iPhone Old Text Messages Disappeared? Here’s How to Get Them Back Easily

I updated my iPhone 7 to iOS 12.4 yesterday. But I just found that some old text messages disappeared from my iPhone, and also lost some attachments pictures. I’ve tried talking to a technician and I was able to get no resolution. Is there any solution to get my old messages back?

Plenty of iOS users have encountered the same situation that iPhone’s old text messages disappeared after the iOS update. Actually, besides iOS update error, there’re many other reasons that can’t see older messages on iPhone, such as accidental deletion, water damage, device crash, jailbreak, etc.

No matter what the reasons, all you want is to get those disappeared old text messages back soon, right? Don’t worry. In the following, you can get why can’t you see old messages on your iPhone, and we will show you some reliable solutions to retrieve older text messages successfully & quickly.

Bonus Tip: Check out this guide on Why did my text messages turn from blue to green?

How to Fix Can’t See Older Messages on iPhone

Method 1. Restart Your iPhone

iPhone 8 or earlier iDevices: Press and hold the Side (or Top) button until the slider appears > Drag the slider to turn off iPhone completely > Wait for a while, press and hold the Side (or Top) button again until you see the Apple logo.

iPhone X and later: Press and hold the Side button and either volume button until the slider appears > Drag the slider to turn your iPhone off > Wait for a while, press and hold the Side button again until you see the Apple logo.

Method 2. Check Keep Messages

This simple tip works perfectly for lots of users to solve the old text messages disappeared error on the iPhone.

Open Settings app > Messages > Keep Messages > Three options for you: 30 Days, 1 Year, or Forever. If you prefer to manage the messages by yourself, just choose Forever to prevent the messages deleted by the system from iPhone.

How to Find Old Text Messages on iPhone

If you want to see all your text messages on your iPhone, including the older texts, simply take the assistance of the #1 iPhone data recovery tool – PhoneRescue for iOS. It has helped millions of iOS users get back their deleted or disappeared messages and is highly recommended by those users for message recovery. Now, let’s check what it can do for you.

Here are the steps to show all your iPhone messages:

Step 1. Download PhoneRescue for iOS and install it on your Mac/PC > Run it > Connect your iPhone via USB cable.

Step 2. Choose one mode you prefer and click Right Arrow on the bottom right. Here we take Recover from iOS Device mode for an example, which allows you to load iPhone messages without any backup.

Step 3. Check Messages only > Click on OK button to continue.

Step 4. Preview and select the messages you want > Click To Device button to get them back to iPhone’s Messages app directly, or To Computer to export them to your Mac/PC computer for a backup. Here you can choose Sort by name or by date.

Further Reading: More Ways to Search Old Messages on iPhone >

Fix iMessage Not Loading Old Messages

If you found your old messages not loading on the new iPhone, it may happen for some iMessage problems. For example, iMessage is not available temporarily, there is not enough storage for loading, or iMessage is not updated correctly. Therefore, you can fix iMessage not loading old messages with the tips below:

1. Check System Status on Apple.com.
2. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to check if there is enough storage to load all your messages on the new iPhone.
3. Check if your WiFi connection is stable since iMessage will be sent by WiFi, or you can go to Settings to Reset Network Settings.
4. Go to Settings > Messages > Toggle off iMessage then turn back on.

What to Do when Downloading Messages from iCloud Stuck?

First make sure the iCloud Messages is on: Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Toggle Messages on. Also, all your Apple devices need to log in with the same Apple ID for message syncing. Sometimes, downloading iCloud messages is stuck because of iOS bugs. So make sure your iOS is updated to the latest.

And, you can also go to Settings > [your name] > Scroll down to sign out of this Apple ID, then sign back in.

How to See Past Notifications on iPhone?

If you want to check the old notification messages, simply swipe down your iPhone screen. It will enable Notification Center, which shows you all past notifications on iPhone. And, you can choose to Clear All or open Options to Add to Contacts, etc.

If you have already cleared some notifications or clicked them, you can not see those iPhone notifications. Because notifications are not stored anywhere on your iPhone.

Further Reading:

How to Fix iPhone Not Alerting Me of Texts >
How to Fix iPhone Messages Keep Indexing >

The Bottom Line

That’s all for how can you fix can’t see older messages on iPhone. You first check some basic settings on iPhone to make messages load again. And, PhoneRescue for iOS allows you to find old text messages at your needs. You can decide how far back can text messages be retrieved on iPhone with this iOS data recovery tool.

If you have any other trouble while retrieving old messages, feel free to leave your comment below and we will reply to you soon.