I've thousands of text messages on iPhone. When cleaning up the crowded inbox, I wanted to delete a string of messages and actually deleted all texts. I don't have any backup either in my iTunes or iCloud. How can I restore texts from iPhone? Very thanks.
You just deleted some text messages on your iPhone and right now, you realize it was a big mistake. My guess, however, is that most of you didn't make a backup because you never thought you would actually lose texts on iPhone. There is basically no way to recover messages from iPhone if no iCloud or iTunes backups are available, in your opinion at least. Oops.
Before you are desperate and do everything possible to restore deleted text messages on iPhone without backup, let's learn some facts about the deletion. When you deleted files on the computer, they are not actually wiped out once and for all. Instead, they have been lurking in the hard drive until that space is used to fill new files. This is exactly what has happened with your iPhone. Actually, texts (SMS, MMS, iMessages) you deleted just sticks around in the device storage and you still have chance to get those texts back to iPhone by file recovery utility.
There are so many software programs from the web that claim to recover text messages on iPhone without backup file, iOS data recovery would be a good companion with no cryptic buttons and complicated procedures being involved.
This program provides an easy way to retrieve text messages, along with other files you might care about including contacts, call history, notes, pictures, notes, reminders, even stuff that you deleted years ago. It gives you much flexibility to view the details of messages and attachments and selectively recover what you need instead of all the data on the device.
Accidentally deleting text messages on an iPhone without making iCloud or iTunes backup doesn't mean that everything's lost. Now, let's see how this software gets them back.
How to Recover Text Messages on iPhone without Backup
Step 1: Connect iPhone to computer and run the tool
Start up the software on your computer, you'll be presented with a interface where three recovery modes are located on the left side for different tasks. To restore messages on iPhone without any backup files, your should stick with the default "Recover from iOS Device" mode.
Next, get a USB cable to connect your iPhone to the computer and wait for a moment until the tool detects the device and shows it on the pane.
Step 2: Scan iPhone to find deleted text messages
Next, check box next to "Messages" and "Messages Attachments", followed by Scan button to run a complete scan on iPhone for searching for lost texts including MMS, SMS, iMessages and its attachments. This might take a while, be patient.
Once done, you'll get an overview screen with all recoverable texts.
Step 3: Recover texts from iPhone and save locally
Once the scan has finished, you're able to click the given "Messages" and "Messages Attachments" categories on the left sidebar to preview the detailed information of messages and its attachments. You can access the name, phone number and email for each message conversation.
To recover deleted texts on iPhone without backup, simply check the text messages you want to get back, click the Recover button at the bottom corner and let the program recover messages and save to your computer.
After the process is complete, you now can view the restored text messages which are saved in a HTML or CSV file.
Additional Tip: Backing up your iPhone text messages is a sound decision that will help you in the future. You can make this in iCloud over the air or in iTunes on computer locally. More details here: How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Video: How to Recover a Deleted Text Messages from iPhone
If you've backup, how can you retrieve texts on iPhone for free?
Apple's Finder (or iTunes) and iCloud are capable of creating backup of your iPhone text messages. If you've used this feature and archived your texts with them, you won't have to worry about messages disappeared from iPhone. Here I will show you how to retrieve deleted messages on iPhone from backup with detailed steps.
Locate iCloud backup and recover messages on iPhone for free
Follow these steps to find your iPhone backup you made with iCloud.
- Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backup, you can check the last backup you made successfully with iCloud.
To restore deleted messages from an iCloud backup:
- Go to Settings > General > Reset on your iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings.
- Set up your iPhone and arrives on Apps & Data screen.
- Tap Restore from iCloud Backup.
- Sign in to iCloud with Apple ID, and select the most relevant backup.
- Stay connected and wait for the restore time to finish.
Locate backup from iTunes and retrieve text messages to iPhone
Look up the path of your backup in Finder or iTunes on computer.
- Go to iTunes > Preferences > Devices, you can check all your iTunes backups made before.
To restore deleted texts from Finder (or iTunes) backup:
- Plug the iPhone into the computer and then launch Finder. On a Mac with macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier, or on a PC, open iTunes
- Select the device icon once it shows up in Finder window or iTunes.
- Click Restore Backup.
- Choose the recent backup that includes your lost messages.
- Click Restore. Your text messages should be back on iPhone again soon.
In addition, the iOS Data Recovery software mentioned above also includes options to restore texts from iCloud or computer backup without touching current data on the device, you can follow the provided sources to restore texts from iCloud backup and retrieve texts from iTunes backup.
Get text message records from phone carrier
In addition to using iPhone text messages recovery application or restoring from backup, this is another possible method you can try on your own. Depending on your service provider, you might get your text messages history by going to your carrier's website or calling its customer service line.
Conclusion
In a word, finding and recovering deleted texts from iPhone without backup doesn't have to be mentally and physically exhausted. Hope this guide is of great help for you.