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How to Recover Deleted Text Messages: Your Complete Guide

Updated April 17, 2024

Whether you need a copy of your text messages for legal purposes, business records, or just for sentimental value, it’s useful to know how to recover deleted text messages. The question of how to do so, however, might cause panic when you start searching through your phone for a special text and realize it’s no longer there.

While our mass texting service allows business clients to keep copies of all text logs for future reference, we’re also experts in all things text messaging — and know all the tricks when it comes to retrieving deleted texts from your iPhone or Android. 

Need to recover deleted text messages from your phone? Whether you’re smartphone addicted or need your texts for serious reasons, here’s your guide for how to get those lost text messages back.

Method 1: Recover deleted text messages from iPhone backup

Now that the macOS Catalina has removed the iTunes app, you can no longer use iTunes to recover lost text messages. However, you can still retrieve deleted texts from iCloud if your text messages have previously been backed up. Here’s how to do it:

Method 2: Recover deleted texts messages from iCloud website

Not all territories or carriers will allow iCloud to backup SMS messages, but some do! If you’re in that lucky category, this could be the simplest way to recover text messages.

Method 3: Recover deleted texts on Android

Need to recover deleted texts from an Android? In most cases, when you delete an SMS or MMS file on an Android, it doesn’t trash the file immediately. Instead, it marks the file as “inactive,” signaling to your phone that it can write over that information to replace it with new data — such as new text messages. Therefore, if you discover you’ve deleted an important SMS from your Android and need to get it back, stop using your phone immediately. 

Then, you can use a data recovery software like DroidKit, Dr.Fone, or SMS Backup & Restore  to search for the deleted SMS or MMS message. Each software has its own instructions. If you don’t feel comfortable running the software on your PC, reach out to a local company with expertise in data recovery.

Method 4: Contact your carrier

If you really need those deleted text messages and the above methods haven’t worked for you, consider contacting your phone carrier. Some companies keep a record of your text messages, although you might need a court order to gain access. 

Here is a list of the retention periods of major carriers from the ACLU:

How to recover deleted text messages from your business texting software

One of the most frustrating experiences for marketing managers and customer service leaders is trying to recover a chain of text messages only to discover their business texting software didn’t save them. In these cases, it’s almost impossible to recover prior text messages. To guard against this situation, make sure you choose a business texting platform that continuously saves customer interaction logs. Here are some cases where detailed customer SMS records come in handy:

If you accidentally delete customer text logs or interactions, reach out to your business text messaging platform’s customer support team to inquire about restoring that data as soon as possible.  

How to prevent deleted business text messages

To prevent accidentally deleting your business text messages, here’s what you should check on (even if you aren’t tech savvy).

By reviewing these questions in advance, you can prevent the need to retrieve deleted texts later down the road.