How To Restore Deleted Messages From Your iPhone

Things happen, and even if you have a fancy phone, this does not prevent you from doing things you might regret. If you have gone and accidentally deleted a text message on your iPhone, here’s how to get it back.

Plan A: iCloud Backup

If you have your messages automatically backed up on iCloud, the process of retrieving your text messages won’t be too complicated. Here’s what you do.

1. Go on to https://icloud.com, log in with your Apple ID and go to Text Messages (if they have been backed up to iCloud, you will see this folder there. If not, proceed to plans B and C)
2. Do a search to find the message or messages that you are looking for.
3. On your iPhone, head over to Settings>iCloud. Once there, you will have to turn off Text Messages (don’t worry, you’ll get back to them in a short while)
4. A pop-up will appear. In it, select “Keep on my iPhone”. Now go back to Settings and turn on Text Messages back on. After tapping “Merge”, you should see the messages appear on your phone.

Plan B: iTunes Backup

If your messages have not been automatically backed up to iCloud, you can try iTunes backup. Typically, your phone will sync with iTunes whenever synched with your PC. Unless, of course, you have specifically disabled Automatic Sync option in iTunes. Let’s give it a try.

1. Connect your phone with your PC or Mac and wait for iTunes to pop up.
2. Select your iPhone and choose “Restore Backup”.
3. All the deleted data should now make its way back onto your phone. If your did back up your device prior to deleting the coveted message, it should also be in the list.

Plan C: Recovery Software

Ok, time to get serious. If none of the above options has worked, you can get down and dirty with some hefty restoring. To do this, you may need to purchase (or roam the web for a free version) one of the data recovery programs for iPhone. Among the many available, WonderShare Dr.Fone for iOS and Tenorshare iPhone Data Recovery seem to enjoy the best reputations.

Once you have the program installed on your PC, follow the prompted steps. As even after you delete data on your phone, it still remains “present” until overwritten y new information, there is a good chance you will be able to recover most of what was lost. The key thing here is to hurry up and keep away from downloading any new files onto your phone in the meantime.

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