septiembre 2025
Can You Retrieve Deleted Text Messages on iPhone?
We all fell into this — accidentally deleting a text message can feel like losing an important piece of your digital history. It can be an important work detail, a sweet memory, or critical evidence. Therefore, many users ask: “Can you retrieve deleted text messages on iPhone?”
The good news is that in many cases, you can. With the right approach, retrieving deleted text messages is possible. Forbes reports that Apple’s iMessage handles over 100 billion messages daily, and any of these messages can be accidentally deleted.
We are here to explain how to retrieve deleted messages, how iPhone’s system handles it, review traditional recovery methods, and compare the best apps to retrieve old text messages, including Phonsee.
Table Of Contents
Can You Really Recover Deleted Text Messages on iPhone?
Before diving into methods, it’s important to understand how iOS handles deleted content and all the pitfalls related to it.
How iPhone Handles Deleted Messages
First, you need to know that deletion doesn’t mean disappearing from the phone completely. Instead, the iOS just flags it as “deleted”, and the space is marked available for new data. Until overwritten, the deleted files may still be recoverable. In fact, sometimes very easy!
How Long Deleted Messages Stay Recoverable
Messages can sometimes be recovered for days or even weeks after deletion. However, once new data fills the storage space, recovery becomes less likely. That’s why acting quickly is critical when trying to recover text messages on iPhones.
Is There a Way to Retrieve Deleted Text Messages?
Indeed, there are several workable ways that can help you. It doesn’t matter whether you want to restore your own messages or help restore messages from someone else’s phone — you can still do so.
Each method has its pros and cons, so choosing the right one depends on how much time has passed, how your iPhone is set up, and whether you use backups.
1. Check the “Recently Deleted” Folder in Messages
Not everybody knows that with iOS 16, Apple introduced a “Recently Deleted” folder inside the Messages app. This is the easiest recovery method presented by the company itself, but it only works if your deletion was recent.
How to do it:
- Open the Messages app.
- Tap Edit in the top-left corner.
- Select Show Recently Deleted.
- Browse the list and select the messages you want to restore.
- Tap Recover to move them back to your primary inbox.
Limitations: Messages stay here for 30 days. After that, they are permanently erased unless backed up. Still, this method doesn’t fully answer the question of how to retrieve old text messages, since a month isn’t very long.
2. Restore from an iCloud Backup
Your iCloud is suggesting that you back up data for a reason. If you regularly back up your iPhone to iCloud, you may be able to restore deleted messages from a previous backup.
Steps to do it:
- Go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.
- Set up your iPhone as new.
- During setup, select Restore from iCloud Backup.
- Choose the most recent backup that contains your deleted texts.
Limitations:
- Restoring from iCloud replaces your current data with the backup. Anything created after that backup will be lost unless separately saved.
- By default, every Apple ID comes with 5 GB of free iCloud storage space. As you understand, that’s very little. Additional space costs some money.
3. Restore Using iTunes or Finder
For users who back up their phones to a computer, iTunes (on Windows) or Finder (on macOS version – Catalina and later) offers another way to recover deleted messages.
That’s how it works:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer.
- Open iTunes or Finder.
- Select your device, then click Restore Backup.
- Pick the backup that was created before the texts were deleted.
Limitations:
- Like iCloud, this method overwrites your device with the backup’s data. It’s best used when the deleted messages are more important than recent files you may lose.
- Messages might not be restored properly. Users on forums report that messages take up space in settings but don’t reappear in the Messages app anymore.
- Retrieving deleted text messages from a large backup often requires significantly more free storage on your computer than the backup size indicates.
4. Contact Your Carrier
The good thing is that many mobile carriers keep records of text messages for billing or legal purposes. Of course, it’s not always guaranteed, but you can request message logs from them.
Steps to success:
- Call your carrier’s customer support or use chat if available.
- Ask if text message records are available for your account.
- Follow their process, which may require identity verification.
Limitations:
- Carriers may only keep logs (metadata like time, date, number) rather than message content, because it’s private.
- Data retention policies vary — some carriers store data for months, others for just days.
- It likely won’t work if you want to recover text messages from someone’s iPhone.
5. Use Third-Party Recovery Tools
Many ask: Is there a way to retrieve deleted text messages if 30 days have already passed and backup was not enabled? If the above options don’t work, specialized apps may help.
Many of them include a lot of other helpful features you might need. Therefore, such an app can become an essential tool that works in many cases.
Best Apps for Recovering Deleted iPhone Messages
Not all recovery tools are created equal. Here are some of the best apps currently available:
App #1: Phonsee
Phonsee isn’t just a monitoring tool — it can also help recover deleted messages, no matter when they were removed, as long as the app was installed beforehand.
With Phonsee, you can also monitor ongoing conversations in all social media platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Snapchat (and monitor deleted messages there as well). Its discreet design makes it a reliable choice if you need to recover texts from someone’s phone without alerting them.
But it’s just a beginning, you can get a lot more:
- You can track an iPhone’s GPS location without the need to share it.
- Check Web history and installed apps.
- Monitor call logs with all the following details.
- Use the keylogger feature and even be notified when inappropriate words are used.
App #2: Dr.Fone
Dr.Fone is a recovery app that can scan iPhones for deleted texts, photos, and contacts. It doesn’t offer as many features as the number one app, but it’s a good choice for retrieving deleted text messages.
How to use it Dr.Fone:
- Download the software to your computer, launch it, and then select Data Recovery.
- Connect iPhone – Plug in your device and choose recovery mode (iOS device, iTunes backup, or iCloud backup).
- Scan for messages – Click Start Scan to let Dr.Fone search for deleted SMS/iMessages.
- Preview and recover – View deleted messages (marked in red) and choose to restore them to your phone or save them on your computer.
Keep in mind that Dr.Fone is a paid service and may seem too expensive, especially considering the price for one particular feature. Also, some of the users reported failure while using this software to recover text messages on iPhones.
App #3: Moniterro
Moniterro specializes in deep scans of iPhone storage. It retrieves deleted text messages, call logs, and even multimedia files. As the Phonsee, it also allows for monitoring deleted messages in certain social media nd messaging apps.
After a one-time installation on the iPhone, it runs in a stealth mode, keeping all the logs on the personalized users’ dashboard.
While it is quite similar to the backup process, it is much better, as Moniterro doesn’t require the storage of your own phone or PC and provides better results.
Conclusión
So, can you retrieve deleted text messages on an iPhone? The answer is yes, but success depends on timing and method. Whether through Apple’s built-in tools, backups, or third-party apps, recovery is often possible. Therefore, don’t get upset too early, just follow this guide.
Don’t forget that you can combine those methods: from the official ones to using trusted tools like Phonsee, which not only helps recover lost data but also keeps ongoing activity monitored.
