By Vernon Roderick, Last updated: August 27, 2019
Messages are sacred pieces of information that needs to be safely stored. They contain important details that may affect your relationship with family and friends, and may even hinder your work. Therefore, losing it means losing important information as well. But still, we can't avoid the act that some messages can be lost in time, although they still hold much value.Plus, there are many cases where files in your phone get lost. So what should you do to retrieve old iMessages?
To use D-Back to scan the iPhone for the old messages, follow these simple steps: Step 1. Begin by installing the program to your computer and then launch it. From the main window, select “Recover from iOS Device” and then click “Start” to begin. Need to find an old message in iMessage? You’ll need to learn how to search inside your text messages to find it – here’s how it is done Finding a specific message inside Apple’s iMessage – on either you iPhone or iPad – is actually really simple. It is super-useful too. All you need to know or have is a specific “keyword” or “phrase” in mind. If you know that, you can. We show you three ways to restore text messages you deleted from your iPhone. Login to your Apple ID and password 2.
This article will show you the significance of iMessages, reasons for losing iMessages, and the different ways to retrieve old iMessages. Before anything else, let's talk about what an iMessage is in the first place.
What Is An iMessage?
An iMessage is an instant messaging software that is available only to Apple devices. However, there's a significant difference between iMessages and the typical message in other devices like with Android.
For one, iMessages require an internet connection for it to work, so you'll have to have Wi-Fi or at least a data plan. This is especially true if what you're ending is a picture or even a video.
An iPhone user can find iMessages to be the default message app on the phone. In addition to sending iMessages, it can also send SMS messages with blue indicating iMessages and green for SMS messages.
However, it's important to remember that iMessages can only be seen through iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices. Lastly, if you have no internet connection, the supposed iMessage will be sent as an SMS message instead.
So this is the question, how can you retrieve old iMessages with just a few clicks. Sure, you can do it manually, but what if you don't have time?
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Using FoneDog iOS Data Recovery to Recover iMessages
Since the other methods that use system software didn’t work, your only choice now is to use third-party software. Fortunately, we have just the perfect software for you. Just remember that just like with the iTunes method, you will need to use your personal computer.
To give you a better grasp of things, you should first know what this third-party software, FoneDog iOS Data Recover, is.
What is FoneDog iOS Data Recovery?
FoneDog iOS Data Recover is a software that can be installed and launched in a desktop. While it can be installed in different models of personal computers, it is only functional when connected to Apple mobile devices such as iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
The software allows you to retrieve all kinds of information and data. As a quick overview, here’s a look at the different information you can retrieve.
- App Document
- App Photos
- App Videos
- Calendar
- Call History
- Contacts
- iMessages
- Kik
- Line
- Messenger
- Notes
- Photos
- Reminder
- Safari Bookmark
- Safari History
- Text Messages
- Viber
- Videos
- Voice Memos
- WhatsApp Data
As you can see, iMessages is included in this list of data that FoneDog iOS Data Recovery can retrieve. Now unto the step-by-step guide to using this third-party software.
Step-by-Step Guide to Using FoneDog iOS Data Recovery
The process is straightforward and there’s no complex part. You simply need to follow these instructions:
- Download the software here at: https://www.fonedog.com/ios-data-recovery/
- Launch the software and plug your Apple mobile device. You will then be taken into a separate window.
- Start the scanning process. This will scan the phone for lost data.
At this point, you will see what options you can take. Since there are other options, let’s tackle them one by one. For the first one, it’s very simple.
- After the scanning process, you will be given a list of lost data that you can recover. Just choose from this list and click the Recover
- Select where you would like your data to go once it is recovered. Now you just have to wait.
The second one is recovering the deleted files using iTunes backup. It’s basically the same with what we discussed earlier, only this time you can recover files one by one. To do this, follow these steps:
- Launch FoneDog iOS Data Recovery.
- Select the option that says Recover from iTunes Backup File. You will be given a list of iTunes backup files.
- Choose which backup files you want to scan and then click the Start Scan This time, you will be given a list of lost files that can be recovered.
- Select files that you want to recover and click the Recover
The third and last one involves the use of iCloud. This will be pretty quick. Here’s the step-by-step guide to this method:
- Launch FoneDog iOS Data Recovery.
- Choose the Recover from iCloud Backup File You will then be taken in a login interface.
- Type in your login credentials for your iCloud account. Then you’ll see a list of backup files available.
- Do the same as you did in the iTunes backup method. Choose which backup file to use and select the files you want to recover. This time, you’ll need to click the Download.
And this is the use of FoneDog iOS Data Recovery. You can easily recover different types of information. You can even retrieve old iMessages that are lost in time.
Retrieve Old iMessages Through iTunes or iCloud Backup
To retrieve old iMessages, you will need to access either the iTunes backup or the iCloud backup.
Both these options were created by Apple themselves as they expected for issues like this to happen. These options, the iTunes and the iCloud backup, both stores the history of your phone, including the past iMessages.
Without further ado, let us start discussing the step-by-step guide to restoring old iMessages through iCloud first.
Option 1: Restore Old iMessages using iCloud
Before anything else, you must remember that to restore from the iCloud backup, you should've made a backup of it before it was lost. Either way, here are the steps on how to retrieve oldiMessages through iCloud.
- Go to the Settings of your phone.
- From there, follow this path: General > Reset.
- Then, you will see an option saying 'Erase All Content and Settings'
- You may then be asked for an ID and Password, which you should type in.
- The device will then start to erase your current information and the device will reboot.
- After the reboot, go to your Apps & Data tab in the Settings app.
- There, you'll see an option that says 'Restore from iCloud backup'. Tap this.
- Sign in to your iCloud account and you'll be given a list of different backup files.
- Choose from this list of backup files.
- Your iPhone device will reboot again to load the information of your backup file.
At this point, you would have already finished your goal to retrieve old iMessages. Then there's the iTunes option as well.
Option 2: Recover Old iMessages using iTunes through Desktop
Compared to the iCloud backup option that is a bit complicated, this will be a pretty straightforward and quick process. However, you will need to have a personal computer in order for you to do this.
The iTunes option will mainly revolve around the 'Restore Backup' functionality of iTunes. Here’s how you can use this feature:
- Launch the iTunes app on your personal computer.
- Plug your Apple device using the USB cable on the computer. You will then be redirected to a window.
- You will see there an iPhone icon located at the top-left corner of the window. Select the Summary option that is found on the sidebar.
- In the Manually Back Up and Restore section, select the Restore Backup You will then be provided with a list of backups.
- Select from the archive and click Restore.
After you do this, you just have to wait for a few minutes or even seconds for your phone to retrieve old iMessages. At that point, you are allowed to unplug the mobile device from the computer.
If, for some reasons, these two options don’t work for you, which is perhaps because you haven’t made a backup yet before the iMessages was lost, then don’t worry. You still have more options.
Find Old iMessages from Other Devices
Find Old Imessages On Mac
While it may be an inconvenient option, you can always retrieve old iMessages by checking your other devices. Obviously, this means you’ll have to manually retrieve old iMessages the traditional way.
If you don’t have the luxury to do this, then perhaps we might need to rely on our last option, and perhaps the most convenient and quick option there is.
But before that, you first need to understand why iMessages get lost and how this will affect your method to retrieve old iMessages.
Why Did Your iMessage Get Lost?
There are many causes of data losses. There’s rarely any case where only the iMessages are lost. It goes with other files, too.
To give you a better idea, here’s a look at the most common ways for files, including old iMessages, to be lost.
- Unintentionally Deleted – We are only humans. We make mistakes, too. Unfortunately, one of the most common mistakes we people make when handling smartphones is erasing data unintentionally.
While this is a pretty tragic way for you to lose iMessages, at least you know the reason for your suffering, unlike with the next causes of data loss.
- System Error – You can barely notice the difference when your mobile device’s operating system has a problem. There’s no clear warning for errors. However, you’ll surely notice the consequences when you start losing data, including iMessages.
- Water Damaged – Similar to unintentional deletion, you can also drop your smartphone in the toilet by mistake, or someone may spill a liquid into it. Either way, there’s a high chance that some data will be deleted.
- Viruses and Malware – We won’t, of course, leave viruses and malware in this list. They cause multitudes of problems, and one of them is data loss. They don’t discriminate, so even old iMessages can be deleted.
- Hackers – If you’ve done something bad to someone lately, then you better make a backup of your files. Hackers have a variety of tools to use so that they can delete the files of a mobile device.
- Factory Reset (Hardware Formatting) – Lastly, by formatting or being pushed to factory reset, you’ll be erasing all data in your phone, including your iMessages.
It might be because you forgot your password. Or you simply want to improve your phone’s performance. Either way, you should obviously make a backup before formatting.
Now that you know the reasons for data loss, you should already know why the process to retrieve old iMessages isn’t as simple as you think. If you make a mistake, you might make matters even worse. So here’s a surefire way to retrieve old iMessages.
Conclusion
Today we talked about how to retrieve old iMessages. While there are lots of methods to do this, there often comes a point when these methods don’t work. So a third-party software is needed to retrieve old iMessages.
How To Find Old Imessages By Date
FoneDog iOS Data Recovery not only allows you to retrieve old iMessages, but you can also do it with other files, too.
Find Old Imessages Without Scrolling