It’s a good idea to clean up Messages on your iPhone, which can take up a lot of space. But sometimes, there's a long conversation thread that you want to keep. If you have accidentally deleted a message string or a single message conversation and want to get it back, fear not. It is possible. Messages sent from an iPhone running iOS 16 or higher can be restored up to 30 or 40 days after they were deleted. So while there’s a limited time frame, they are recoverable.

How to retrieve deleted messages on iPhone

1. Open the Messages app on your iPhone.
2. Select Edit in the top, left corner.
3. You’ll see an option for Show Recently Deleted. Select this.
4. From there, select the message you want to recover by tapping the circle to the left of the message and selecting Recover.
5. You can also select Recover All at the bottom right of the screen.
6. The message will now appear back in your Messages list.

Using iCloud to retrieve deleted messages

If you have Messages being backed up in iCloud, retrieving a message or conversation will not only retrieve the message on the device through which you perform these steps but also on all devices where you have Messages in iCloud. This might also include your iPad (with iPadOS 16.1 or higher) and/or MacBook, for example. If the message you want to get back was sent prior to updating to iOS 16, however, you won’t be able to retrieve it.

Note that even if you recover a message from someone on your device, it doesn’t recover the message for them on theirs. But if they never deleted the message, they’ll still see the original to which you are responding.

It’s also worth mentioning that if you choose the Undo Send option after sending a message, which deletes it from the recipient’s device, this deletes the message permanently. In this case, you are not able to recover the deleted message.

They’re not gone forever!

If you inadvertently delete a message or message string from one of the latest iPhones and you want to get it back, it is possible. Maybe the conversation had pertinent information like an address or key dates. Maybe it's something you want to keep as a memory. This is also a way to check in on kids if you believe they have been conversing with someone they shouldn't and deleted their messages. Whatever the reason, it's just a quick few taps to get to the recently deleted messages list. With a month of history kept there, you should have more than enough time to retrieve a conversation before it's gone forever.