Have you lost or deleted a text message on your iPhone, be it SMS or iMessage, and want to recover it? We bring you several methods to recover deleted text messages from your iPhone with iCloud, iTunes or another program.

by Alba Mora, Macworld Editor

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Have you accidentally lost or deleted an important message on your iPhone? Don't worry, there are several ways to recover them, either using iCloud, iTunes or an application from third-party developers. In this article, we guide you step by step through each of these methods.

You may be the type of person who occasionally cleans up text messages to free up space. You may have just deleted that important SMS by mistake. The easiest solution seems to recover a backup, but we also have a solution if you don't have any saved.

Method 1. Recover Deleted Messages from iCloud Backup

If you remember backing up before you deleted that precious text message, it's still possible to recover it thanks to iCloud. Note that doing so will return your iPhone to the state it was in when you backed up.

1. Open the ‘Settings’ of your smartphone and tap on the section where your profile photo appears with your name. On the next screen, tap the ‘iCloud’ section.

2. Now, scroll down until you find the option of 'iCloud Backup'. If you have a backup available, it should say 'Yes' next to it.

3. Then, all you have to do is locate the backup copy from the list that you want to recover. To find out what you saved in each copy, all you have to do is tap on it and explore the content.

4. Before you can recover that copy, you'll need to restore your iPhone to factory settings. To do this, go back to the ‘Settings’ page and select ‘General’. Then, scroll all the way down and tap on ‘Reset’, followed by ‘Erase All Content and Settings’.

5. Once you have confirmed the action, your iPhone will proceed to be deleted. When this process is finished -which may take a few minutes-, the screen you saw the day you configured it for the first time will appear.

6. Finally, you will be able to configure your smartphone again by carefully following the steps. One of them will give you the possibility to recover a backup copy saved in your iCloud. Choose the one you located in point 3.

Method 2. Recover Deleted Messages from iCloud Website Backup

As we said, the above method will overwrite the state of iPhone when you backed up to the current state. If you want to avoid it, you can try the steps that we will indicate below and that will require you to access iCloud from its website.

Keep in mind, however, that this won't work for everyone and will largely depend on the country you're in and the phone company you're using. In case you are among the lucky ones, you will see how easy this method is.

1. Go to the iCloud website and sign in with your personal credentials. If you have activated the double authentication factor -or another protection method- you must also follow the indicated steps.

2. Once you've been able to access your iCloud account, click the 'Messaging' button. If this option does not appear, it means that you do not have any backup of your text messages available, so you must choose another method from the list.

3. In case you were able to access the 'Messages' folder, scroll through the SMS until you find the one you need to recover.

4. Now, grab your iPhone, go to 'Settings', tap on your profile picture and your name and select 'iCloud'.

5. Next, and although it may sound strange, deactivate the switch that you will see next to the 'Messages' option. You will see that a pop-up window appears. Simply tap on ‘Keep on iPhone’ -or something similar-.

6. Finally, turn on the switch next to ‘Messages’ again and tap on ‘Merge’. All you have to do is wait a few minutes and you will see your deleted messages reappear on your iPhone.

Method 3. Recover Deleted Messages from iTunes Backup

Instead of backing up to iCloud, you may have used your iTunes to make the same. If you suspect that the message you are looking for could still be in one of them, all you have to do is have your computer at hand.

The truth is that, even if you are not entirely sure that you have it saved, it is worth trying this method. Now, think twice before doing it because recovering a copy will mean deleting the current state of your iPhone.

1. Connect your iPhone to the computer, PC or Mac, which you usually use for backup with iTunes. The program should open automatically, but if it doesn't, you can do it manually.

2. You will see that in the upper left, under the toolbar, an icon in the shape of a smartphone will appear. Click on it to be redirected to a new screen.

3. From there you can restore a backup copy by clicking on the 'Restore copy...' button. All the content that you had stored on your iPhone just before making that copy will reappear on your mobile, including that deleted message.

Method 4. Recover deleted messages by contacting your mobile operator

If you have come this far, it is probably because none of the other methods above, which require access to a previous backup, it has not served you. Your option now is to contact the mobile operator with whom you have contracted the service.

Some telephone companies, although not all, store the text messages that are sent from the mobiles of their customers, who have the right to access them at any time.

Depending on your carrier, you may even be able to retrieve one of those messages by going to your online account. If not, your best bet is to call customer service directly.

Method 5. Recover deleted messages with an external program

Don't throw in the towel if you haven't had any luck with the above four methods. You now have the possibility to use an application not developed by Apple. You should know that sometimes you will have to pay for them and, even then, they will not help you.

There are several reputable programs for recovering deleted messages, such as PhoneRescue by iMobie, Enigma Recovery, WonderShare Dr.Fone for iOS or Tenorshare iPhone Data Recovery.

While there's no guarantee that they'll work, you should theoretically be able to access SMS you've deleted in the past with these programs if you consider they're still on your iPhone somehow.

If you choose this method, we recommend doing it as soon as possible after realizing that you have deleted that very important message. The longer you take, the greater the chances that the information has been deleted.

Not what you were looking for? Maybe you got here by chance and recovering an SMS is not what you want to do. We also have tutorials on how to delete text messages, how to send and receive text messages from Mac, and how to transfer SMS from one iPhone to another.