How to Recover Deleted Messages on iPhone for free

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A guide on how you can recover your lost messages on your iPhone. If you accidentally deleted your text or iMessage conversations and looking for a way to recover them, then this guide is for you.

Flipping through your text and you discovered that some texts that are now important are missing, in some cases, they just disappeared off your mobile, probably, you mistakenly deleted them, sometimes it is due to a failed jailbreak, flawed iOS upgrade, or other unimaginable scenarios that can potentially make your SMS disappear off your inbox.

The good thing about this is, there chances you can recover those lost messages. In most cases of deleted SMS on iPhone devices, you can have them restored if you know how to, the whole idea of this guide is to give you some useful tips and steps on how to restore or retrieve SMS on your iPhone.

You’re able to restore your lost SMS on iPhone because the device was designed to save up all of your messages including MMS and iMessage entries into an open-source backend mobile storage utility- SQLite database.

This is a functionality that’s integrated into all modern mobile devices and computing systems. It’s a function that mostly operates in the background and doesn’t get in the way of your mobile functionality.

Basically what happens as soon as you delete a message on your mobile is that the space the SMS was occupying gets transformed from allocated to unallocated but your message data are preserved. With time, the SMS data gets overwritten with new incoming messages.

Deleting text messages is legitimate, sometimes, they occupy so many spaces on your mobile and make it feel unnecessarily cluttered, hence the need to delete some of those texts off your mobile once a while.

But what happens in a situation you need to make a reference to a deleted text or conversation? The idea is to restore or recover your messages just before they get replaced with new messages.

We have put together the most effective ways to recover your deleted messages on your iPhone with or without a computer, free and at all costs.

How to recover lost SMS on iPhone

Since you now understand that the messages will be lost as new messages come in, then it’s logical to want to stop messaging or block incoming SMS to the mobile until when you’re able to recover your lost messages.

Recovering your lost message data is dependent on the method of backup you implore from the onset. Some people backup their mobile to the iCloud while others use a direct backup to their PC.

We are going to explore all of the various methods and options available to recover your lost text messages, this will include workable solutions that you can use even when you have performed a factory reset on the mobile.

Third-party applications and software have sometimes been very useful in so many cases.

The approaches we shall recommend in this post will help you to retrieve lost SMSes on iPhones with iOS 13 and 14.

Restore Messages from iCloud backup

CAUTION! A factory reset is required to use this method.

If you use iCloud on your mobile, you’re just a few steps from retrieving your text.

Your iCloud backups up your data into the Apple cloud dedicated to your profile.

It saves up your messages, both SMS and MMS, and others sent in via iMessage. However, in order for you to retrieve them from iCloud, you’d be required to have the same card used to initiate the backup in the first place.

Once you have this requirement. Follow the steps below to recover your text from iCloud.

1. Open up your mobile and navigate to Settings > Name> iCloud > iCloud Backup.
2. Be sure that you have enabled iCloud backup, the slider turns green
3. Wait for the backup to be automatically created
4. Next is to perform a Factory reset
5. Erase your iPhone from Settings > General > Reset.
6. Select to Erase All Content and Settings.
7. A message will pop up on your screen asking if you’d like to restore your iPhone from an iCloud Backup.
8. Select the Restore from iCloud Backup option

Once your backup is restored, you should be able to access any deleted texts and iMessage conversations on your phone.

The only issue we have with this recovery method is the fact that you have to perform a factory reset before it can work, so either way, you will still lose some data with this SMS recovery method, a better approach would be to restore directly from the iCloud website.

Recover Messages from iCloud Website

iCloud is the online storage facility where iOS users have their files digitally saved up. The iCloud storage system is integrated into all Apple devices so users can have their contacts, notes, pictures, and other files stored in a secure personal web space accessible to users.

If after trying the previous methods recommended you still cannot have your messages restored, the next method you can try your hands on is trying a recovery directly from iCloud.com.

The steps is as follow:

1. Open up the iCloud website in your browser, whether from mobile or PC
2. Log in with your Apple ID and password
3. select Text Messages on the website
4. Select the messages you’d like to retrieve to your iPhone
5. Next, go to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud on your iPhone
6. Put the option for Text Messages off
7. A message that says Keep On My iPhone  will popup on your screen

Recover texts from your Mac computer (macOS 10.15 Catalina)

If you have a local backup saved on your pc. Here is how to recover your text.

First, be sure to have disabled find my iPhone on your mobile device

1. Navigate to Settings > Your Name > Find My > Find My iPhone and switch the toggle off.
2. It will request that you key in your Apple ID password for it to turn off Find My iPhone on your handset.
3. Next, have your mobile connected to your PC via USB cable
4. Open up the Finder, to do this double-click on your Hard Drive icon.
5. Find your iPhone just under the locations sidebar and click on it
6. Next, click on manage backups, this way you’d be able to see all the backup saved up on your PC.
7. Select the one you wish to restore, you can sort through it by date.
8. The backup should predate when the messages were deleted.
9. Click Restore iPhone.

How to restore messages from iTunes Backup

We have given above the steps you can use to recover your lost messages, in case nothing works for you yet.

You can try this next one, using iTunes. iTunes backup is another place to look out for if you’re looking to recover your lost text.

This will be done with the use of a PC. Follow these steps to pull through:

Navigate to Settings on your iPhone, open

Next to Apple ID > Find My > Find My iPhone.

Turned off slider for this option (Find My iPhone) to avoid any form of interference in the process.

Next, key in your Apple ID and password if required.

Next have your iPhone Connected to PC with a cable.

Navigate to iTunes.

Then summary

You’d see the automatically backup section, click on restore from backup to have your deleted text messages restored.

In a situation you don’t get the text you’re looking for from the backup, you’d have to turn to other alternatives, using third-party apps and tools.

Consult your ISP

If that didn’t work, the next option might be to contact your service provider, most service providers have customer care channels and tech support agents to help their customers with any issue they may be having using the service.

There’s no guarantee that they’ll be able and willing to help you recover your lost messages, but it’s worth giving it a try. Some providers (will tell you they ) only have as much current information as the one you have on your phone, so if you don’t have any data at the moment probably because you deleted them or they have already been overwritten, it’s very much likely that your provider has the same story.

However, you should still make some moves, if you have a customer account on the ISP’s website, you should turn to them for possible assistance.

In this case, the next we recommend you do is consider third-party apps for mobile.

Recover deleted messages on iPhone with computer VIA third-party apps

There are several free and paid apps that you can use to recover messages on your iPhone. If you have tried all of the previously recommended options, on this page, your last resort might just be to explore your device using reputable unofficial apps.

Some third-party apps are created mainly to lend users in recovering their text messages, in the next lines below we’d be recommending a few good ones you should try.

These applications are designed in a way that they are simple to deploy, the process is usually to have your mobile connected to your PC with USB, launch the app on the PC and see how much data you can recover.

• FoneDog iOS Data Recovery

In the course of making research online for what works in this matter, we came across an impressive third-party software FoneDog iOS Data Recovery.

Basically, what this tool does is to technically dig up your iOS device and recover as much as possible data (including pictures, image files, and text messages in their little bits) on the device.

The tool prides itself to be the best software on PC to recover deleted SMS on iPhone. So, it’s worth your time.

Here is how to use FoneDog iOS data recovery in three simple steps:

1. Install the software on your PC
2. Open up the tool
3. Have your iPhone connected to a PC using a USB cable
4. Click on start scan, so the tool can start exploring your device
5. You will see a progress scan on a new interface and lots of options to recover each type of data discovered on your mobile
6. On the left flank as seen in the image above, select the type of message you wish to restore.
7. Then manually select the files by ticking on the resource one by one
8. Once you’re done selecting, click on the Orange Recover button
9. It will prompt you to know the recovered path you want your files to go.
10. Voila! Your messages should now be restored

This is a no brainer method to retrieve your SMS on iPhone, it’s simple and easy to get through. The idea is to engage a third-party software, if you are not so cool with this option then you don’t have to go ahead with it, you can just turn to any other alternative that you’re okay with.

• PhoneRescue by iMobie

PhoneRescue is yet another tool that you can use to recover messages, the tool does more than just recover messages, you can as well engage it to recover other file types such as pictures, contacts, call history, message attachments, reminders, notes, voicemail, calendar, and more.

Even some users have successfully use PhoneRescue to recover their phone data from their iCloud account. The tool also comes with a Finder and device backup feature that helps you much more in personal data protection and recovery.

This is a premium tool, but useful if you need to recover your data at all costs, for example from a crashed device.

• Tenorshare

The next Third-party tool is Tenorshare, with Tenorshare, you can recover your messages, files, different types of media including your WhatsApp, contacts, and photos, and SMS at a one-year license fee of $60.

It comes in three different recovery modes that allow having a preview of what you’re trying to Restore.

It is compatible with the latest iOS versions and phone models.

• Enigma Recovery

Enigma Recovery is a recovery tool for iOS, it comes with a price tag of $59.99 for the single license and $69.99 if you’re going for a pack of 3.
The app lets you do more for $199.99, for example, you can get unlimited downloads.

The tool lets you scan through all of your messages and then you’re allowed to choose which ones you’d like to restore back to your mobile.

You’ll need the Restore iOS app of this tool to complete the restoration process. The app is however made available for free once you buy the license.