Have you ever deleted a text message or conversation on your iPhone and then realized you still needed it? We’ve probably all been in that boat. Don’t worry, there is a way to resurrect a deleted message. But don’t expect too much. The iMessage app typically retains deleted text messages for up to 40 days. As long as you act before that deadline, you should be able to recover that missing but not forgotten message.
That’s fine, but what if you miss the deadline and need to access text that was permanently deleted? One option is to turn to a third-party iPhone recovery tool. I use an iPhone utility called iMazingwhich allows me to backup my phone and selectively access specific data. I can even view older text messages without having to restore them on my phone.
Also: How to send and receive Apple iMessages in Windows
The main drawback here is that you would already need a backup of your phone to restore older and since deleted text messages. Therefore, you will want to use a program like this regularly and before you start deleting messages that you may need in the future.
This is how both options work.
How to restore a deleted message in IMessage
To recover deleted messages and conversations in iMessage, you need iOS 16 or later on your iPhone and iPadOS 16.1 or later on your iPad. To check your device, go to Settings, select Basic, and tap Software Update program. Download and install the latest version, if necessary.
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Open iMessage. Assuming you’ve already searched for the message you want and can’t find it, it’s time to review all the deleted texts. If you already filter unknown senders, tap the Filters heading at the top left. Otherwise, tap Edit. Change the selection to Recently Deleted. The list shows each sender’s name or phone number, the number of messages in each conversation, and the number of days that have passed since it was deleted.
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If you find the conversation you want to restore, select it and tap Recover at the bottom. You can also choose to restore more than one text at a time. Confirm recovery.
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Tap the Filters heading at the top and change the selection back to All Messages. Scan or search for the restored message. Tap it to view the message or messages and continue the conversation if you wish.
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How to use a third-party backup tool to recover deleted texts
To access texts that have been permanently deleted, you can turn to a third-party backup tool. Here, you can back up all the data on your phone and then selectively view any deleted content included in the backup.
Although you will find several programs of this type, I recommend the iMazing utility, which is free as long as it does not restore any applications or data. Restoring a backup requires a paid license, which starts at $39.99 for a single device. The good news is that you can view and even export a message from the backup without having to restore it to your phone.
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Again, you must have already been using this backup tool to view deleted text. But this is a good option to cover your bases for the future.
Download and install iMazing. Connect your iPhone to your Windows PC or Mac via USB. Open iMazing and wait for it to pair with your phone. Once pairing is complete, select your phone, check the appropriate checkbox, and then click Backup.
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On the next screen, turn on the “Enable backup encryption” switch and add a password if you want to encrypt the backup. Otherwise, leave it disabled. Select the Backup Location option if you want to change the default backup location. When you’re ready, click the Backup button at the bottom right. Wait for the backup to start and then complete.
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Now let’s time travel to the future. You’ve been using iMazing or a similar program to back up your phone, hopefully regularly, and now you need to access a deleted text. You already checked the Recently Deleted area on your phone and it didn’t appear.
Also: How to better organize text messages on your iPhone
Launch iMazing and select the Backups category. Review your backups and select the one you believe contains the since-deleted text. In the Backups window, select Messages. Allow messages to be retrieved and displayed. Select the deleted conversation from the list to view it. Right click on it and then you can export the text to a PDF, Excel spreadsheet, CSV file or text file. You can also save attachments and print the entire conversation.
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