Deleting a message doesn't immediately erase it from your iPhone. Check out these 5 methods to recover both recently and permanently deleted messages on iPhone 15 models.
The deleted iPhone messages and iMessages can be recovered easily with proper tools and methods.
It's often frustrating when we delete an important iPhone message by mistake. The good news is that the deleted messages may not be permanently gone.
Released with iOS 17, iPhone 15 comes with a Recently Deleted folder built into the Messages app. That is, all deleted messages and iMessages will be saved in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days before being eventually deleted from your iPhone.
If your iPhone messages are accidentally deleted and you cannot recover them from the Recently Deleted folder, an iCloud backup or iTunes backup can restore your iPhone 15 to recover the deleted text messages after 30 days. If none of these solutions work, there are third-party iOS recovery tools available to retrieve deleted messages on iPhone 15 without backup.
In this guide, we'll explore various methods to recover deleted messages on iPhone 15, helping you easily get back both recently and permanently deleted conversations, SMS, and iMessages.
Table of Contents:
The message recovery solutions described in this guide can be applied on iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and all other iOS models.
Yes. There are 3 common ways to recover deleted messages on iPhone 15 without or with backup:
1. Recover from Recently Deleted folder. Helpful when recovering iPhone messages deleted within the last 30 days.
2. Scan iPhone's internal storage. Software like iPhone Data Recovery can scan deeply into iPhone 15's memory to find both recently and permanently deleted messages and recover them directly without backups.
3. Restore from backups. Using iCloud backup or iTunes backup to restore deleted text messages on iPhone 15 by factory resetting the device and restoring everything from a recent backup.
With these efficient tools, recovering deleted iPhone 15 messages has become remarkably simple.
Pre-installed in Messages app since iOS 16, the Recently Deleted folder on iPhone saves all text messages and iMessages you delete for up to 30 days. iPhone 15 launched with iOS 17. So if you accidentally delete some valuable conversations, check the Recently Deleted folder to recover deleted messages on iPhone 15 easily:
If you use iCloud for Messages to keep your conversations up to date across your Apple devices, recovering a deleted message on iPhone 15 will update and recovery on all your devices.
The messages will be automatically deleted from iPhone after 30 days if you forget to recover them from Recently Deleted folder. The possibility remains that these permanently deleted messages still exist on your iPhone's internal memory until their storage is completely taken up by new data.
For permanently deleted massages, iPhone Data Recovery would be a more efficient solution to recover the iOS messages that are not in the Recently Deleted folder and not in a backup. This reliable iOS data recovery software can deeply scan your iPhone's internal storage to locate both recently and permanently deleted messages, allowing you to view individual conversations and recover deleted messages from your iPhone 15 separately.
Not limited to the message and iMessage recovery, it also supports the recovery of various deleted files on iPhone & iPad, such as photos, contacts, notes, call logs and more. So, if you want to recover deleted text messages on iPhone 15 without backup, here's how:
By following these steps, all your deleted iPhone 15 messages can be recovered in no time. If you have an iTunes backup on your computer, it can also scan and extract particular files from an iTunes backup, letting you recover deleted iPhone messages individually without data loss.
If you've turned on iCloud Backup to keep automatic backups of your iPhone, or if you have manually backed up your data with iCloud regularly, there's a good chance that you can restore your iPhone 15 from a recent iCloud backup to get deleted messages back. The drawback is that this process will reset your iPhone to factory setting and replace all its current data with the backup content. Anything not stored in that backup will be overwritten completely.
Before proceeding, make sure there's an iCloud backup made before your messages are deleted. If possible, make a separate backup of your most recent data. Here's how to restore messages from iCloud backup to iPhone 15 after permanent deletion:
Step 1. Verify iCloud backups before message recovery.
If you don't have iCloud backups made before the deletion, scroll up to the above solutions for message recovery.
Step 2. Reset iPhone 15 and revert it to factory settings.
Step 3. Restore messages from iCloud backup.
Once done, all data in that iCloud backup, including the text messages and iMessages you deleted after 30 days, will be retrieved on your iPhone 15. Simply open the Messages app to see if your lost messages are back.
Alternatively, if you prefer to keep regular iPhone backups with your computer using iTunes or Finder, you can also use a local iTunes backup or Finder backup to restore your deleted iPhone 15 messages. Note that this method works by reverting your device into factory settings and then restoring the backup data back to your iPhone. Any data added to your device after the backup will not be restored.
1. Connect your iPhone 15 with computer and run iTunes or Finder.
TIP: For Windows PC and macOS 10.14 or earlier, choose to restore messages from iTunes backup. On macOS 10.15 and later, use a Finder backup to recover your lost text messages.
2. Click the phone icon when it appears in the upper-left corner of the window.
If asked, follow the instructions to enter your passcode and trust this computer. See what to do if you forget iPhone passcode.
3. Move to Summary > Backups.
4. Check This Computer and click the Restore Backup button.
5. In the selection box, choose a most relevant backup and click Restore to get all deleted messages back to your iPhone.
If you don't expect any data loss, or you're not sure which iTunes backup contains the deleted iPhone messages you want to recover, the iPhone Data Recovery software offers more flexibility to scan iTunes backup files and extract only your desired messages for recovery.
Here's what to do for retrieving deleted and lost text messages on iPhone 15 via iTunes backup extractor. You can preview the details of the backed-up conversations and messages before recovering them:
This way, all selected iPhone 15 messages will be recovered and saved locally as CSV or HTML file for your further use.
Contacting your phone carrier is also a helpful way to bring deleted iPhone messages back. There's possibility that they may retain a record of your old messages, so you may ask for their help to retrieve your lost messages. Note that the phone carrier has no access to your iMessages.
Accidentally deleting important text messages on iPhone 15 doesn't mean that you lose your data forever. With right tools, you can easily recover deleted messages on iOS. Whether to check the Recently Deleted folder, restore from iCloud or iTunes backup, or use third-party iOS data recovery programs, the methods explained in this guide enable you to retrieve lost text messages on all iPhone 15 models with ease.
While knowing how to recover deleted messages on iPhone is important, it's also crucial to prevent such scenarios in the future. Keep regular iPhone backups with either iCloud or iTunes to ensure your data is safely stored.
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