Most of us have text messages on our iPhones that date from lots of years ago. These can be crucial gems such as messages from old friends, from people who passed away or vital information that must be kept safe. It’s really comforting to know that all these are there and whenever you feel the need to access this information again, a quick search on your device should bring it up. But, let’s suppose that you have to delete some file to make space and you notice that Messages is getting a bit too large. Removing some messages might seem a good idea at the moment, but the messages that you hold so dear will be lost for eternity if you do that. At least that’s what you may think because it’s not true. Thankfully, there are a few ways of getting back your deleted messages.
Retrieving deleted files from an iCloud backup
If you have an iCloud backup of your iPhone from before the moment that you removed the messages, you can recover them. All you have to do is have a look at your Backups to check if there’s an old iPhone backup that includes the deleted text messages. If the old backup is there, all you have to do is restore your iPhone to factory settings before you set the device up using the older backup.
Retrieving deleted texts without overwriting your device
If you don’t want to overwrite your iPhone, there’s another chance. You have to log in to iCloud and click on the Text Messages. Search the messages to find the ones that you need, and go to your iPhone and choose Settings. Turn off Text Messages and when you see the pop-up saying “Keep on My iPhone,” turn back on Text Messages. After that, tap Merge and wait because, in a few minutes, the deleted messages should be right back on your device.
Retrieving deleted messages from an iTunes backup
If you didn’t back up your data on iCloud, but you did so on iTunes, you can recover the information from that backup. It’s important to note that this will also overwrite the data on your phone. Connect your device to your computer and open iTunes. Select the iPhone icon and choose Restore backup. All the data that you previously backed up will replace the current data on your phone.
Contacting your phone provider
If you didn’t have any luck using the steps above, you could always contact your phone provider, and luckily there will be a record of all your text messages kept, and of course, you are entitled to access them.
Using a third party app
It’s possible that none of the options from above really work for you and the last thing that you can do in this case is to use a third-party application to recover your lost messages. Enigma Recovery is one of the best tools out there that can help you recover your lost messages. The app comes with a clear and user-friendly interface design, and even beginners will be able to use it. Enigma Recovery supports Windows and Mac operating systems, and it’s guaranteed to help you restore deleted messages and more essential data such as contacts, calls, notes, and so on. All you have to do is download Enigma Recovery, connect your iPhone and tap Trust, scan your device for messages and view and save the deleted messages. It’s a piece of cake. There’s an incredibly detailed tutorial on the official website on how to retrieve deleted data on your iPhone, and you can learn more about the process there.