How to Recover Deleted Text Messages on iPhone 7/7 Plus

The Messages app is always one of the most used apps on mobile devices. And the improved messages app on iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus no doubt would be one of the best apps people would like to use.

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It could be normal that some iPhone 7 users would face the problem of messages disappearing or missing after a new iOS version update and use the Messages app. So in this post, we talk about how to retrieve deleted text messages on an iPhone 7 (Plus).

Firstly, did you backup your iPhone to iTunes or iCloud before losing messages? If you did, then it could be very easy to get back deleted messages by restoring your device from the backup files. This method is always the first option that we apply. But before we head to the detailed steps about how to restore your iPhone 7 (Plus) from iTunes or iCloud backups, you need to know that:

• iTunes/iCloud backup restoring way would first require you to reset the iPhone 7 (Plus), which means the existed data would be erased wholly.
• iTunes/iCloud does not enable users to preview what there is in the backup file. So please 100% be sure that the backup file contains what you want.
• iTunes/iCloud will restore the whole backup file to the iPhone 7 (Plus), which means not just the message items will be restored, but also including the photos, contacts, etc.

How to Recover Deleted Text Messages on iPhone 7 without Backup

If you have no backup file, then you may need to get help from the professional iPhone data recovery tool. Luckily, PhoneRescue is also good at that. PhoneRescue for iOS could easily make it to directly scan whether there are some deleted messages on your device, of course, without an iTunes or iCloud backup. (Normally, the deleted texts on the iOS device could be retrieved if there isn’t something new that takes up the storage of the deleted texts).

Step 1. Download and install PhoneRescue for iOS on your computer. OS supports Windows 7/8/10, Mac OS 10.8 – 10.15 and new macOS Catalina.

Step 2. Run PhoneRescue for iOS and connect your iPhone to the computer with a USB cable. Click Recover from iOS Device and go to “Next”.

Step 3. Then a screen will pop up noticing you choose what kind of data you would like to retrieve. Check Messages option and click OK button, then it will begin scanning your iPhone 7.

Step 4. After scanning, all messages and attachments will be listed. Click Messages and Messages Attachments on the left panel to preview messages on iPhone. You can use the filter to list only deleted ones. After getting your deleted texts, now you can select them and recover them to your device or export them to your computer. (If you plan to export them to a computer, these messages will be saved as printable and readable files, such as HTML.)

While if you have backed up your iPhone 7 (Plus) to iTunes or iCloud, then it would save a lot of work to get back your deleted text messages. You can just restore them from iTunes & iCloud backups.

But you need to notice that iTunes & iCloud restoring both require the whole iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus being replaced by the backup files. It means that all existed data on iPhone 7 (Plus) would be erased, and irretrievable forever. Besides, in iTunes & iCloud backup files, you will no be enabled to see what exactly they contain. So you cannot be sure of whether they have the deleted text messages on iPhone 7 (Plus). So there would be a high risk of losing some other important data for saving deleted text messages on iPhone 7 (Plus).

However, just as we mentioned above, PhoneRescue for iOS does also work for retrieving deleted messages on iPhone 7 (Plus) from iTunes & iCloud backups. Besides it also avoids such defects and shortcomings like iTunes & iCloud restoring.

PhoneRescue for iOS enables you to see every single item in iTunes & iCloud backups before restoring. So you can 100% make sure if the backup file has what you want. As long as the backup includes the deleted messages on iPhone 7 (Plus), with PhoneRescue for iOS you can directly recover them directly to your iPhone Message app, or save them on Computer in the formats of HTML or TXT, without any other data on iPhone 7 (Plus) being erased.

Also Read: How to Fix “iPhone Messages Disappeared/Deleted” And Get Them Back >

How to Retrieve Deleted iPhone 7 Texts: Restore with iTunes Backup

1. Connect your iPhone 7 with the computer you usually sync it with and open iTunes.
2. When your iPhone appears in iTunes, click the Summary option.
3. Click the Restore Backup option. If this option is grayed out, you may need to change your backup preferences from iCloud to Computer. You can always change this back after you have restored your iPhone.
4. This process can take a while. Wait for its finishing, and then you will see the messages in your Message app again.

Note: As we have said above, the iTunes/iCloud way has its drawbacks. If you cannot 100% make sure that the backup has the deleted messages and be afraid of losing some other important data, we would like to recommend one iTunes/iCloud alternative to help you extract the backup data but without such risks. And the alternative is PhoneRescue. With it, you can preview the detailed items stored in both iTunes and iCloud backup files, selectively restore the item you want to the iPhone 7, not the whole backup file, and most importantly, there will be no data erasing happening. Friendly to use and 100% guarantee for data security.

How to Recover Deleted Text Messages on iPhone 7 from iTunes Backup

Step 1. Download PhoneRescue for iOS and run it on your computer > Connect your iPhone 7 to it if you plan to recover deleted text messages directly to your iPhone 7 Message app > Choose Recover from Backup > Click right arrow.

Step 2. Select the iTunes backup with messages you want to retrieve. Then it would pop up a page for you to choose what kind of data to scan. By default, all categories will be selected. Please uncheck Select All option and then choose Messages. Click OK.

Step 3. After scanning, select Messages and Message Attachments > Select the contacts with messages you want to retrieve > Preview the deleted text messages > Select the items you want to recover > Click To Computer button to get them back to the computer, or To Device button to recover them directly to your iPhone 7 Messages app.

If you have iCloud backups for your iPhone 7, you can take the following steps to retrieve your deleted text messages.

How to Retrieve Deleted iPhone 7 Texts: Restore with iCloud Backup

Part 1. Check if the iCloud Backup contains the deleted iPhone 7 text messages

• Go to Settings.
• At the top under your name you’ll see Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & App Store; click that arrow.
• Tap on iCloud.
• Scroll down and tap on iCloud Backup.
• Now check to see if the time of your last backup was before or after you deleted the texts you want back. If you can 100% make sure, then let’s continue with the second part.

Part 2. Reset your iPhone 7

• Go to Settings.
• Tap on General.
• Choose Reset.
• Select Erase All Content and Settings.
• In the confirmation menu that pops up, choose the second option: Erase Now. After the erasing finishes, it’s time to set up your iPhone again.

Part 3. Set up iPhone 7 and get back deleted text messages

• On the Apps & Data page, choose Restore from iCloud Backup.
• Enter the passwords of the iCloud, and then sign in iCloud.
• Proceed to Choose backup, then there probably is a list of available backups in iCloud. Choose the one that contains what you want.
• Then wait for the process to finish, and complete other setups. Lastly, the deleted messages will be back on your iPhone 7 again.

How to Recover Deleted Text Messages on iPhone 7 from iCloud Backup

Step 1. Download PhoneRescue for iOS on your PC/Mac, and run it > On PhoneRescue for iOS homepage select Recover from iCloud > Connect your iPhone 7 to it if you plan to recover deleted text messages directly to your iPhone 7 Message app > Click on the right arrow to continue.

Step 2. Sign in your iCloud account.

Step 3. Select iCloud Backup.

Step 4. Choose the iCloud backup file which contains delete text messages > Click Download > Then it would pop up a screen for you to choose what kind of data type you would like to recover, so check Messages > Click OK button to continue.

Step 5. Then it would start downloading those files > After downloading, click right arrow > All text messages would be displayed > Choose the items you plan to recover > Click on To Computer button to download them to the computer or To Device button to get them to your iPhone 7 Message app.

The Bottom Line

Just like what we showed above, This best iPhone data recovery tool – PhoneRescue for iOS could be a good deleted messages recovery tool for your new iPhone 7 or 7 Plus. Of course, besides SMS or iMessage, you can use it to do more to recover lost data from your iPhone iPad, such as photos, videos, voice memos, WhatsApp messages, etc. Download PhoneRescue for iOS and discover more >>