How to Recover Deleted Text Messages From Your Cell Phone

Techwalla may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. Learn more about our affiliate and product review process here.
How to Recover Deleted Text Messages From Your Cell Phone
Image Credit: monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Getty Images

Some people believe that it's not possible to recover deleted text messages from your cellphone, but in reality, in many cases you can. Depending upon the specific type of phone that you have, you may need to try a few different methods.

Advertisement

Step 1

Restore your phone to a previous backup using factory software. Most modern cellphones come with software that allows you to restore the phone to a previous backup point using the USB data connection on your PC. The backup is usually updated each time the phone is connected to your computer, so if you can restore the phone this way, you can recover all the text messages that were present on your phone at the last time of backup.

Advertisement

Video of the Day

Step 2

Search for the messages on your SIM card using a recovery program. Some phones store a running log of text messages on the SIM card for a certain amount of time. While the factory software doesn't allow you to read this data, you can purchase third-party software that permits you to access all the information on the SIM card to find out if your lost text messages have been backed up or stored there.

Advertisement

Step 3

Visit your carrier's retail store and ask one of the employees to recover your text messages using a carrier-specific program. Certain cellphone carriers have recovery software programs that are not available to the public but can be used in their retail stores by employees to perform certain procedures on phones, such as data recovery.

Advertisement

Step 4

Contact the customer service line for your carrier and find out if the company can send copies of your text messages to you. You can receive them by email or in the form of a duplicate text message. Not all carriers offer this service, and some require you to pay extra if they comply with your request.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Step 5

Find out if you can get copies from the other person you were messaging. If you had a text conversation that you lost and have tried every other way to recover your messages, you can check with the person you were messaging and see if he still has a copy of the conversation on his cellphone. Depending upon the circumstances of the conversation, he may or may not agree to this, but if you've exhausted all of your other options, it's worth a try.

Video of the Day

Advertisement

Advertisement

references & resources