How to recover deleted iMessages on iPhone 12: A complete guide
If you accidentally deleted an iMessage from iPhone 12, hopefully these tips will help you recover it with an iCloud or iTunes backup, or third-party app.
Ella Garcia Updated on Apr 15, 2022 4:54 PM
So you've come right here in an effort to recover deleted iMessages on iPhone 12 (iPhone 12 Pro, Pro Max, Mini are covered.) In this guide, we'll gather a few useful routes and run through how to recover when you lost or mistakenly deleted iMessages.
As you prepare to delete one or some of your messages from the iPhone 12, consider what you want to retain. If didn't keep your important texts, photos, videos, or other attachments, and now need to get deleted iMessages back, you can restore your iPhone 12 using a recent backup in iCloud or on computer via iTunes or macOS Finder. After the restore process, your phone will be back to the point before the iMessage was deleted.
It would be also great that iOS Data Recovery tool is here granting you to retrieve deleted iMessages on iPhone 12 in case you don't have a backup, or you don't want your iPhone data lost during a full iTunes or iCloud backup restore.
You can recover deleted iMessages in a few simple steps, with or without backup.
The recovery tips involve:
Recover deleted iMessage on iPhone 12 using an iCloud backup
iCloud backs up your iMessages automatically as long as iCloud Backup feature in Settings has been turned on. If you have backup of your iPhone 12 in iCloud before the time when you deleted the iMessages, you can restore the backup and recover those deleted iMessages.
Warning: Restoring iPhone 12 from iCloud backup essentially rolls anything back to the date when that backup was created. Any changes you made or any data you added to the iPhone since the backup will be lost.
To restore deleted iMessages from iCloud (no computer needed):
First, check if you have a recent iCloud backup to restore your lost iMessages. You can view the last successful backup date through Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud backup. The date should be prior to deletion of iMessages.
Make sure to make a backup before restoring.
Then, reset your iPhone 12 to factory settings before restoring from iCloud backup. Head to Settings app and select General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings. This will erase the device and take a few minutes to finish.
Erase your iPhone 12 before restoring it.
When your phone reboots, it's time to go through the steps below to restore old and deleted iMessages on the iPhone 12 from iCloud backup:
1. Follow the instructions that are given on-screen until you reach Apps & Data screen. Tap Restore from iCloud Backup.
2. When prompted, sign into iCloud and choose a backup to restore from. Make sure your selected backup was made from before you got rid of your iMessages by mistake.
3. Stay connected to Wi-Fi and your iPhone 12 will be restored from that iCloud backup. Wait a few minutes for the device to complete the procedure. At the end of the process, the device will restart and be ready for use.
Let your phone restore an iCloud backup.
Tips: Until now, iPhone users are not allowed to preview what's in the iCloud backup. You never know exactly whether your iMessage chats are there but to guess relying on when the backup was generated. One tool that enables users to view deleted iMessage threads and recover only one or two messages is called iOS Data Recovery, which is mentioned in the next part. Plus, the software won't force a full restore and data overwrite.
iMessages Recovery software - Recover deleted or lost iMessages
This is an ultimate solution in the case:
- There's no iPhone 12 backup containing your deleted iMessages.
- You don't want to lose any data when you perform iPhone data recovery process.
The easiest way of recovering iMessages deleted on iPhone 12 is to use iOS Data Recovery utility listed on the Google search result. The application will scan your phone memory, iTunes backup, iCloud backup and find the deleted iMessages and SMS & MMS within a few minutes. Any deleted but not yet overwritten data is still in the database and can be retrieved.
The tool also has the ability to organize iMessages by name, phone number and email. You can restore just the iMessages you want without overwritten your whole iPhone 12.
How to recover iMessages on iPhone 12 without backup:
Ensure that you stop using your iPhone once the message is disappeared. To avoid any apps running in the background, you can turn on the Airplane mode.
Step 1: Download the application on PC or Mac and install it.
Step 2: Launch the tool and choose "Recover from iOS Device" shortcut on the left. The software is able to view and extract deleted iMessages from iTunes or iCloud backup.
Step 3: Connect your iPhone 12 to computer. When it's connected, hit Start Scan button.
Step 4: After scan, select "Messages" and "Messages Attachments" from the left column, then on the right pane, choose the iMessage chats you want to recover. Make sure you take advantage of the search function, as well. You can search the lost iMessages for text or attachment within a conversation. Just click the search bar at the top right corner of the interface.
Step 5: Click Recover button.
You can preview your iMessages that were deleted but recoverable from the scanning result.
Look at iMessages on another iPhone, iPad or Mac
This is an obviously simple approach when you accidentally deleted or lost iMessages on the iPhone 12. The steps to find out the texts depends on Messages in iCloud feature is on or off in device settings.
[Read More: What to Do When Messages Icon Disappeared on iPhone Screen]
If Messages in iCloud is off
If you have multiple Apple devices sharing the same Apple ID, your iMessages in iPhone 12 should be also stored on those devices. In case you don't use Messages in iCloud, when you delete an iMessages, it remains on any other device. To get back that deleted message thread, you just forward it to yourself and save to iPhone 12 messages inbox.
If you've enabled Messages in iCloud
You obviously can't restore the iMessages for the feature being turned on, but there's hope.
When the feature is toggling on, it syncs both iMessages and SMS across all of your iDevices and Mac. Keep in mind, once you delete a conversation from one device, it will be deleted from any other device linked to Apple ID on iPhone 12.
You can turn off the Messages in iCloud and download SMS and iMessages from iCloud server.
The short version of instructions is this:
- In iPhone 12 Settings app, tap your Apple ID profile at the top.
- Tap iCloud.
- Tap on the toggle next to Messages to turn it off.
- When prompted, choose Disable and Download Messages.
Wait for a moment and let iCloud download iMessages to your iPhone 12 device.
Switch off Messages in iCloud if it's already on and recover recently deleted iMessages.
How to Recover deleted iMessages from iPhone 12 backup using iTunes or Finder
If you recently backed up your iPhone 12 to computer when you still had the deleted iMessages, you can restore your device and get old iMessage history from the backup with iTunes or Finder. Likewise, this requires a backup since before you deleted the messages, erasing iPhone 12 to factory defaults, and restoring from that backup.
Tips: iOS Data Recovery grants you to view iTunes backup and selectively retrieve the iMessage texts, photos, videos, stickers and attachments. Assuming you are an Apple fan and don't mind losing anything currently on your iPhone, do the following with iTunes, or Finder - if you're on macOS Catalina or above.
1. Plug your iPhone 12 to PC or Mac where you backed up with.
2. Open iTunes or Finder.
3. In iTunes, click device icon on the upper-left corner of the screen and choose Summary on the left. In Finder, choose your phone under Devices from the left list and then click General tab at the top.
4. Click Restore Backup.
5. Pick the most recent backup that may contain your deleted iMessages to recover.
6. Hit Restore button. Wait for iTunes to complete the restore procedure and restart your iPhone 12. Your iMessages that have been deleted should reappear on the device.
Find iTunes backup and extract deleted iMessages and other files for your iPhone.
[Don't Miss: How to Recover iPhone Contacts without Backup]
You're almost set, just a few last things to think about as you perform iMessages recovery with iCloud backup and iTunes backup of the iPhone 12. While you could restore accidentally deleted iMessages, the process will replace all your current data. You are not out of options: you can retrieve your messages using iPhone Data Recovery - it's more straightforward, and you won't lose data.
