There’s something called inconvenient, and then there’s something called disastrous. When your iPhone’s text messages get accidentally deleted or lost, it can be inconvenient for some, but it can be disastrous for many. I realized this when my iPhone messages went missing after installing an iOS update. For me, it was both inconvenient and disastrous.
I still remember the exact moment when I tapped Update for the iOS patch, watched the progress bar, and then my iPhone restarted. But then hit disaster, when I opened those messages, dozens of threads were gone. In case of a mishap, anyone might lose critical notifications from authorities, Govt. Agencies, tax receipts, bank transaction alerts, payment confirmations, or other important messages like your child’s school updates or important notes from friends.
But instead of procrastinating about what I really lost, I acted because sitting ideal won’t help. My first move was to look inside the Messages app for a Recently Deleted folder. Apple saves these deleted messages for some 30 days, and you can restore the messages from there if they are available. I found two message threads, but they were of no use to me, as they were the ones I willingly deleted. I realized that the glitch did not move them to the Trash Bin folder and deleted them beyond restoration.
Next, I checked iCloud. Because I have a habit of making frequent backups, so there was a good chance the missing messages existed in an earlier backup. But this option looked messy to me. Reason: The restore process asks you to erase the phone first, then restore from the chosen backup, so anything new since that backup will be lost unless copied elsewhere. For me, it was like spending a $100 to get back $10 in return.
So, a local backup on my Mac was the option I was left with. Finder can restore your phone from a backup you made on a computer. However, this was similar to the iCloud process. This would have brought back some threads similar to iCloud, restoring a backup with Finder or iTunes replaces the phone’s current data. If you are not left with any other option to try this can help, but you need to back up any new items before you start.
All of these hassles made me think what else can I try to recover my deleted iPhone messages, because I already did not find anything in the Trash bin, iCloud and local backup were an option, but it would have made the process too tiring and precarious.
My research led me to use a dedicated recovery app, Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone. It sounded promising, so I installed it on my Mac, connected the iPhone with a cable, and allowed the device to trust the computer. The software offered two options: recover directly from the device, or pull from iTunes backup. I ran a deep scan on the phone itself first, since it did not require any purchase upfront.
The scan took about 20 minutes. While it ran, I liked seeing a live list of recoverable items. The preview feature let me view message content and attachments before I saved anything. That mattered because I only wanted the important texts, not every old conversation.
Using Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone, I recovered important messages, including my payment confirmation, chats and the important notices. Also, a few older messages that were deleted long back were recovered to my surprise. I was happy because I thought they were overwritten already, and those could not be recovered, my messages were back.
This tool is also useful if you don’t want the hassle of recovering from iCloud or Finder by restoring all your data, as it offers selective recovery of files from the iOS device or iTunes backup.
Here is a short checklist you can follow right away if this happens to you.
- Avoid usage of the iPhone at any cost. Avoid taking new photos or downloading large files, since new data can overwrite deleted items.
- Open Messages and check Trash. Recover anything you find there.
- If you use iCloud backups, consider restoring from a backup made before the loss. Back up recent files first.
- If you have a computer backup, restore from Finder or iTunes after securing any new data.
A quick guide on when to try each step.
Start with Recently Deleted. If that fails, and you have an iCloud backup, try restoring from iCloud next. Also, you can use Finder restore if you keep local backups on your computer, but this requires restoring your device completely, and you might face a bigger data loss. If messages are still missing, run a recovery tool. Also ask the sender to forward important threads when possible.
A few quick tips from my experience might help as well. Just ask the person on the other end to forward or screenshot the conversation if possible. Turn on automatic backups to iCloud and keep at least one recent local backup on a computer. If you decide to use a recovery tool, do it sooner rather than later.
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