To recover deleted text messages on iPhone without using a computer, you need to have iCloud backups enabled. You can either restore an iCloud backup with your texts or check another device of yours that has sync enabled. If these don’t work, you can also use third-party apps like PhoneRescue.
Texting is one of the primary methods we use to communicate. Our texts can contain everything: business transactions, personal information, and even cherished memories.
That’s why it’s pretty frustrating if we accidentally delete important iPhone text messages. But does that mean that you should give up hope of recovering your deleted messages?
Luckily for you, there are several methods you can use.
In this tutorial, I’ll teach you the 5 best ways, including how to recover deleted text messages on iPhone without computer and also with computer.
The 5 Best Ways To Recover Deleted Text Messages On iPhone Without Computer (And With Computer)
First, let’s take a look at how to achieve that without a computer!
Recover Deleted Text Messages With iCloud Backup
iCloud Backup is the iPhone’s native cloud backup service.
This software is integrated with your phone and is also available on iPads, iPods, and other iOS devices. As long as you have an Apple account, you can use the iCloud service for free, albeit with a limit on how much data you can store.
Because it’s practically built into your phone, backing up using iCloud is easy and seamless. However, one of its main disadvantages is that you only have free cloud storage of 5GB. If you want to store more than that, you will have to upgrade your storage plan for a recurring monthly fee.
iCloud Features
iCloud backup automatically makes a copy of your iPhone’s data and saves it to the cloud.
It saves everything you have on your iPhone including the purchase history of things you bought with Apple Services, such as iTunes music, apps, books, TV shows, ringtones, and visual voicemail passwords, are also included. It can also save data from your Apple Watch if you have one synced.
iCloud can restore the data it saves to your iPhone. However, one caveat is that it only works by means of replacement. This means that the current data on your phone will first be deleted before the backup data can be restored to your device.
Once you stop or disable the iCloud service, it will only keep the last backup for 180 days.
How To Turn On Automatic iCloud Backups
You can recover deleted text messages using the iCloud backup function, but first, you need to have a backup stored in the cloud.
In other words, to retrieve deleted text messages on iPhone, you need to turn on the backup beforehand.
Here’s how to enable automatic iCloud backups of your phone.
- Go to Settings and tap your name at the very top of the options list.
- Now, choose the iCloud tab.
From there, scroll down to iCloud Backup. - If you want to back up your data manually, you can also tap the Back Up Now button.
How To Recover Deleted Messages On Your iPhone Via iCloud Backup
Suppose you want to recover deleted texts that you’re sure are included in a recent iCloud backup. In that case, you can restore deleted text messages on your iPhone without a computer.
Once again, take note that restoring an iCloud backup will delete your data on the phone. If there’s anything new on your phone that wasn’t there before the backup was created, it will be deleted once you restore the iCloud backup. All other data will be replaced with the backup, as well.
One more thing before we continue – you can only restore an iCloud backup in the iOS setup screen. To get there, you need to either factory reset your current phone or get a new phone.
If your phone is new, skip to Step 6. If your phone already has existing data on it, start at Step 1.
- Go to Settings and click General.
- Scroll down and pick Reset.
- You’ll be presented with multiple options. Choose “Erase All Contents and Settings.” This will factory reset the contents of your iPhone and take you back to the setup screen.
- Now, you’ll be asked to set up your Apple account. Complete all the necessary procedures until you get to the Set Up iPhone Screenportion of the setup.
- Tap the “Restore from an iCloud Backup”option instead of continuing with a clean slate.
- You will then be asked to log in with your Apple account. Keep your device connected to the internet during the whole process so that it can pull up the backup from the cloud.
- All the data you have backed up in this version will be included in the restoration, including any SMS messages you previously deleted.
Once again, keep in mind that if you restore a backup version where you already deleted messages, you still won’t be able to recover it because it doesn’t exist in the backup.
Therefore, make sure to pick a backup version that you are certain contains the deleted messages you would like to restore.
Recovering Deleted Text Messages From Other Apple Devices
iPhone has a feature that lets you sync your dataacross all your Apple devices via your iCloud account.
This is how to look for deleted text messages on iPhone without iCloud.
How To Sync iPhone Messages With Other Devices
If your Apple device is logged in using the same Apple ID and you have Messages in iCloud enabled, all your iMessages can be synced.
For example, if you have an iPhone and a Macbook, you’ll be able to see your messages on both devicesjust by logging in using your Apple ID and enabling Messages in iCloud.
However, this may not work for newer devices with updated iOS versions due to ever-changing Apple updates. Also, this method doesn’t work 100 percent of the time.
Sometimes, even if you sync your devices, the deleted messages you want to recover will still not be there, perhaps because they’ve already been overwritten.
- Open Settings and click on your name at the very top.
- Scroll down until you see the Messages option. Tap to toggle it on.
- You have to do this for other Apple devicesthat you may have.
How To Recover Deleted Text Messages With Message Syncing Method
This is how to find deleted messages on iPhone without iCloud. By using this method, your deleted data with messages will now be synced to your other deviceswhere you are logged into the same account.
Check to see if your deleted text messages are still on the other device. Unless they’ve been overwritten by new data – like can happen if you have auto iCloud backups on – they should still be there.
How To Recover Deleted Text Messages With PhoneRescue For Mac
You don’t need a computer to recover deleted text messages using the previous methods.
However, it’s hard to deny that the first method is only ideal for those who are setting up a new iPhone, while the second method is not effective at all times.
Using third-party apps on your computer is your best option if you want to recover deleted messages on your current phone without having to factory resetit. This third method is also a good alternative if message syncing doesn’t work for you.
While there is plenty of data recovery software on the market (check our list), PhoneRescue is one of the best, in my opinion.
PhoneRescue for Mac is an iPhone data management solution with various modules for the most common and pressing iPhone needs. With PhoneRescue, you can restore deleted text messages on your iPhone without having much trouble, as long as your device version is supported.
Interested in learning more? You can read an in-depth review right here, or you can take a look at the short overview of its main features below.
Features
PhoneRescue is specifically created to backup and restore data, including deleted Android and iOS messages, without having to erase or replace the device’s existing data.
Here are some of its best features:
- Message Recovery Through Backup: retrieve deleted messages if you accidentally erased them, regardless if you’re using iTunes or iCloud backups.
- Selective Backup Recovery: comb through your backup and recover only the information you need.
- Message Recovery Without Backup: sort through your phone’s deleted memory and recover deleted text messages that haven’t been overwritten yet. This allows you to restore recently deleted messages without an existing backup.
- Retrieve All Kinds Of Important Data: recover 31 types of data, such as call logs, videos, photos, documents, and contacts.
How To Recover Deleted Text Messages On iPhone With PhoneRescue
With the free demo, you can only view recoverable files with it. In order to proceed with the restoration, make sure you subscribe to the paid version first.
There are two methods to recover deleted text messages with PhoneRescue: with backup or without backup.
Restoring Deleted iPhone Messages With Backup
Due to Apple’s recent updates, only older iOS versions are supported by PhoneRescue’s iCloud data recovery features.
For iPhones with Two-Factor Authentication turned on, only those that are iOS 10.3.3 and lowercan use this method. For iPhones that don’t have Two-Factor Authentication turned on, however, this method will work, as long as the version is iOS 12.1 and older.
As long as you have a backup containing the text messages you want to retrieve and your device version is supported, then PhoneRescue can fetch it for you. Here’s how!
- Launch PhoneRescue on your desktop and connect your iPhone to the computer using a USB cord.
- From the PhoneRescue interface, choose from either ‘Recover from iCloud’ or ‘Recover from iTunes.’
- You have to log in using your Apple email address and password to access your backups.
- Once logged in, select the backup that contains your desired messages.
- Next, you will choose the type of file you want to restore. By default, everything will be included in the restore process. However, since we only need messages, go ahead and uncheck everything except that file format.
- You can then scan the backup file for any recoverable messages. This allows you to check if the messages you want to restore are actually in the backup.
- In the next window, you will be given the option to either save the restored file to your computeror to your iPhone.
Restoring Deleted iPhone Messages Without Backup
You can also restore deleted iPhone messages even if you don’t have an iCloud or iTunes backup, as long as the data hasn’t been overwritten yet.
- Like in the previous method, launch the PhoneRescue app on your desktop, and connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable.
- From the interface, pick ‘Recover from iOS Device.’
- In the next window, you will be able to pick the file that you want to restore. Just as before, make sure everything’s unchecked except for Messages.
- PhoneRescue will then scan your iOS devicefor the indicated file type, allowing you to see all recoverable messages. Select those that you want to recover and click the recover button.
- You can now export those messages either to your PC or to your iPhone as TXT files.
How To Recover Deleted Text Messages Using Tenorshare UltData
Tenorshare UltData is a fantastic application to recover deleted text messages on iPhone.
It doesn’t work without a computer or a laptop, but the process is easy enough that even non-tech-savvy people won’t have a problem getting it to work.
Using this app, not only can you recover your deleted text message, but you can also recover all sorts of data, including your photos, music, videos, and more.
There are multiple ways that you can use this to retrieve your deleted messages on iPhone.
The first one is to recover the messages from your iOS device. However, if the data is on an old backup, you can also use the iTunes Backup or the iCloud Backupoptions to bring it back.
Before you can do this, however, you need to purchase a subscription. It will cost you $45.95 for one month, $49.95 for a whole year, and $59.95 for lifetime access. This includes coverages for five iPhones or iPads and one PC.
How To Recover Deleted Text Messages From iPhone
As mentioned, the first step is buying a subscription online. Once this is done, you can begin the data recovery process.
For this tutorial, we’ll show you how to recover the deleted text messages from your iTunes backup. If you want to recover messages from your iOS device and iCloud backups, the process is pretty much the same.
- After downloading the UltData app, install and open it.
- Click Recover Data from iTunes Backup.
Next, you have to connect your iPhone to your PC so that UltData can recognize it. - You’ll see a list of all the kinds of data that you can recover from your phone. Since we’re trying to recover messages here, select Messages & Attachments and click Scan on the bottom right corner.
Once UltData is done scanning, you’ll see all your chosen data, including the deleted Messages. Click Recover to Device or Recover to PC in order to retrieve your chosen messages.
How To Recover Deleted Text Messages On iPhone Without Computer
Accidentally deleting your iPhone text messages can be scary and frustrating, especially if the missing text is essential. However, I’ve given you 5 easy ways to recover deleted text messages, even without using a computer.
If you use the iCloud backup restore function or regularly sync your messages with other Apple phones, you can recover iPhone messages without computer.
But how to find deleted text messages on iPhone without iCloud? You can use a reliable third-party solution,such as iMobie’s PhoneRescue to quickly recover your essential messages without hassle, even if you use a computer to do it.