Whether you regularly delete your iPhone messages, or recently mass deleted them to free up storage space, you should always take care to save the texts you still need.
But if you've accidentally deleted some text messages that you meant to keep, don't panic — there are a few different ways to recover lost text messages on your iPhone.
Here's what you should know.
Recover your messages with iOS 16
With iOS 16, you can recover all text messages within one month of deletion.
You can do this by navigating to Messages > Edit or Filters > Show Recently Deleted.
From there, you will see a list of any deleted messages that are available to recover. You can recover all messages or just certain ones that you select.
Use iCloud
If your iPhone is set to backup to iCloud, you might be able to recover deleted text messages using a recent backup.
This will revert your iPhone back to the point when you made that backup, meaning that while it can help you recover the text message, you might lose some other data.
To do this:
1. Open the Settings app and tap your name at the top.
2. Select iCloud, and make sure that Messages are turned on in the list of apps.
3. Tap iCloud Backup. Check that your iPhone has been backed up recently.
4. Go back to the main Settings app menu and select General, then scroll down and select either Reset or Transfer or Reset iPhone, depending on what iOS version you have.
5. Tap Erase All Content and Settings, then confirm that it's what you want to do. You'll likely have to provide your iCloud password to turn off Find My.
6. Your iPhone will take a few minutes to reset to factory conditions. After that, you'll be greeted with the iPhone's initial welcome screen. Go through the first few steps, and on the Apps & Data screen, choose Restore from iCloud Backup.
7. Sign into iCloud to access your backups, then choose the last backup before you deleted the text messages you want to recover.
Try iTunes or Finder
If you backed up your iPhone onto a Mac or PC instead of iCloud, you can try restoring your iPhone with that backup instead. This means using iTunes if you have Windows, or Finder if you're on a Mac.
To retrieve deleted iPhone messages with iTunes or Finder:
1. Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes or Finder, if they don't pop up automatically.
2. In iTunes, click on the phone icon at the top of the screen and choose Summary from the menu on the left. In Finder, click your phone's name under Locations.
3. Click Restore Backup and your old texts will hopefully reappear on your phone. If they don't, your backup didn't include these texts.
Request deleted messages from your carrier
If all else fails, consider reaching out to your phone carrier. Some service providers keep a record of your text messages like they keep a record of your calls.
You'll either need to log in to your carrier account or use the service provider's customer service line. Either way, it's a good last-ditch effort to retrieve that deleted message from your iPhone.
How to recover deleted text messages on Android
iPhones are not the only devices capable of retrieving deleted text messages. You can also do the same on an Android smartphone using other methods.
If you own an Android, check out our guide on how to recover deleted Android texts.
