So, you’ve accidentally deleted some important text messages, and you’re worried they’re now gone forever, right? Well, not necessarily. There are a few different options you can try in order to recover deleted text messages from an iPhone. Now, your ability to recover deleted messages will vary depending on your device and carrier. However, we’ll discuss a few different options below which will hopefully up your odds of success.
From iTunes
Whenever you sync your iPhone with iTunes, an automatic backup is saved. If a previous version of your phone has the missing texts, you should be able to restore your phone to a previous date and recover the messages that way. First, you’re going to connect your phone to your computer, which should open iTunes (if not, you can just open iTunes manually). Then follow the steps below to restore your phone:
1. Click on the phone icon (in the top bar).
2. Click on “Restore Backup…”
3. You can now choose which restore point you’d like to revert to; then click “Restore.”
Once you do this, your iPhone will restore to its previous incarnation, and you should have all your old texts back. This is probably the easiest option to recover lost data, but be warned–anything on your phone from after the restore date will be lost. So don’t get all trigger happy with that restore button until you’re sure you won’t lose something else important. You’d hate to recover the lost texts, only to find you’re now missing a bunch of other stuff.
From Third-Party Software
Another fairly painless way to recover deleted text messages (or any other information, for that matter) is through the use of a third-party recovery tool. The major downside to this option is that many of them cost money, some being as high as $75–not exactly cheap! But, if you really need to get those texts back, or if you happen to have seventy bucks burning a hole in your pocket, this might be your best option. On the upside, these tools are great in that you don’t have to restore everything on your phone, you can pick and choose the specific texts, files, photos, etc you wish to recover. Once you purchase the recovery tool you want, you just connect your device to a computer, run a scan with the software, and then choose the specific texts you want to restore.
However, be prudent in your choice of brand, there’s a lot of crapware out there disguised as legitimate software. Though I have not tested them all myself, a little interwebs investigating has led me to believe that these are probably some of your best options:
- Tenorshare iPhone Data Recovery
- Aiseesoft FoneLab
- Wondershare Dr. Fone for iOS
- EasUS Mobisaver (this one is free!)
From Your Carrier
It’s also possible that your carrier keeps a record of your texts, though what they save and how long they save it for varies greatly. For example, when I called Verizon, they claimed that I could recover text messages if I had synced my iPhone to Verizon’s cloud service. However, with a bit of digging, I discovered that, while this is true for some content, things like text messages, contacts, and call logs are actually deleted from the cloud when you delete them from your phone (as opposed to pictures, videos, songs and documents, which remain on the cloud even after they’ve been deleted from the device). However, on the off-chance you had synced your Verizon iPhone and then later un-synced it, it’s possible there could be texts on the cloud that are no longer on your phone. Basically, it’s a long shot, but if you’re desperate to recover deleted text messages, it’s worth it to call your carrier and see if they can help you.
So, there you go, folks–three options to help you retrieve deleted text messages from an iPhone. If you try any of these, be sure let us know in the comments below. We’d love to collect more data on which options work best for which devices.
And one final piece of advice before you mosey on to your next internet destination–don’t forget that the iOS 8 now gives you the option to automatically delete texts after either 30 days or 1 year. So, if you don’t want your phone chucking your old content, be sure to change your settings to “Forever.” Then maybe you won’t lose anything important in the first place
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