The Messages app is still frequently used by some people to keep in touch with family and friends through iPhone. Just like other apps, you may encounter a few glitches with this app.
One of the problems with this app is having text messages or iMessages disappear, a scenario that can be annoying. If you ever find yourself in such a situation, follow the tips and solutions below to recover the missing text messages and iMessages.
- Common Tips for You When iPhone Messages/iMessages Disappear
- Text Messages or iMessages from One Person or Some Contacts Disappeared
- Solutions to Get Back Your Missing Text Messages or iMessages
- The Difference between iMessages and Text Messages
1. Common Tips for You When iPhone Messages or iMessages Disappear
Since iPhone messages or iMessages can disappear for different reasons, we’d like to introduce some tips according to that and it is very possible to get your messages back if your problem is caused by the same reason. Here are the tips that you can follow to fix the problem.
1.1.Force Restart iPhone
Initially, restarting the Messages app may not be enough to solve app issues on iOS devices. Therefore, a force restart of the iPhone will be necessary in the case where text messages or iMessages disappeared. To perform a force restart on your iPhone:
If you are using iPhone 8 or the latest models, press and release the volumes up and down buttons quickly. Hold the side button until the Apple logo appears.
If you are using iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, press and hold the side button and volume down button at the same time until the Apple logo appears, then let go.
For iPhone 6 and earlier models, press and hold the side/top button (Sleep/Wake) and home button until the Apple logo appears.
1.2. Check Messages Settings
If it is iMessages that disappeared, disable and then re-enable the iMessages option in Messages settings. By default, the iMessage is enabled and you can see it through a blue text bubble in the Messages app instead of a green one. Now if it is iMessages that disappeared you will need to disable and re-enable the iMessage feature by following these steps.
- On your iPhone device’s Home screen, tap on the “Settings”.
- Scroll down to find the option “Messages”.
- Once the messages window opens, you will see” iMessage”. Now, click/tap on the toggle you see to the right of the iMessage until the toggle button changes from green to gray and the toggle button moves to the left. You have disabled iMessages.
- To re-enable, tap on the toggle button to get it back to green color.
Now you can check whether your missing iMessages are back or not.
1.3. Disable and Then Enable Messages in iCloud Settings
Your iPhone has “Messages” in “iCloud”, a feature that allows Messages to be synchronized across all Apple devices you own. Sometimes your iMessages and text messages disappear because the sync is not successful. To avoid such a case, you can re-enable Messages in iCloud settings. To do this, follow the steps below.
- On your iPhone home screen tap Settings.
- Go to Apple ID Name.
- Tap on iCloud.
- Tap on the toggle next to Messages to make it green at the OFF position.
- To re-enable, follow the above steps and tap the toggle to the ON position.
By doing this you have re-enabled the iCloud Messages and if you had changed your device or switched from one iPhone to another, your iMessages and text messages will be moved to your current device. This feature allows you to access messages on all iPhone devices you use.
2. Text Messages or iMessages from One Person or Some Contacts Disappeared
Sometimes you may have some text messages or iMessages from one person or a few contacts disappeared from your iPhone. If this is the case, follow the solutions below to fix the problem.
2.1. Check If the Contact Is Still In Your Contact List
If you are missing iMessage or text messages from one person or some people on your iPhone, you might have accidentally deleted the contacts or the contacts disappeared for some reason. Therefore, first of all, check your Contacts app to confirm whether the contacts are there or not.
If the contacts are not there, then the messages from these people will be shown by a name or an email. It seems that the messages from them are missing, but actually you can search for the messages thread with some keywords.
To get the contacts recovered, you can add the contacts to your list if they were deleted accidentally or change the Mail settings if they were added from your Gmail, Outlook, or other sources. Here is how to check your Mail account settings and change them.
- Go to Settings> Mail> Accounts.
- Tap Accounts.
- If the email that your missing contacts are from is not there, tap Add Account and add the email to your iPhone.
- If the email with the missing contacts is there, tap the email account you need to check.
- Make sure the Contacts button is toggled ON. It is green when enabled.
Follow these steps to ensure that your Contacts are synced with your email and then you can check whether the contacts are recovered or not.
2.2. Make Sure You Have Selected ‘Forever’ for Messages History
If text messages from one person or more contacts disappeared on your iPhone after some time, it could be an issue with the Settings. Some Settings allow messages to be deleted after some time. You will need to check if you have allowed your Message History to be deleted automatically after some time. To see this follow these steps.
- On your iPhone, go to Settings.
- Scroll down to Messages.
- Tap to Messages and scroll down to Message History.
- If Forever is deselected, this is the reason why you keep losing your messages after some time. Tap to enable it.
Your messages will not be recovered, but it will avoid text messages or iMessages missing in the future.
2.3. Check iPhone Storage
When the storage is full you may have issues with your messages and iMessages. Data may be lost for a lack of storage. Follow these steps to check whether your device has sufficient space. If it is full or you have little storage, some messages may be lost.
- Tap on Settings.
- Tap on General and then iPhone storage.
- Go to iPhone Storage to see how much space you have. You may find some recommendations for the device’s storage optimization and a list of installed apps and the amount of storage each app is using.
If you still have some space left and Messages keep on disappearing, please try the other solutions to recover them. If there is not enough storage, you can free space by deleting some apps that you may not need.
3. Solutions to Get Back Your Missing Text Messages or iMessages
We can effectively utilize mobile data backups to get back missing text messages or iMessages on iPhones. It is possible to get back messages on your iPhone by restoring your device from iCloud. If your backups are saved on your computer, you can also use iTunes or Finder to get back the missing messages.
3.1. Restore iPhone from iCloud Backup
Before you restore your iPhone from iCloud Backup, ensure that your backup was created before the time your messages disappeared and they are included in the backup. Then you first need to erase all data and settings from your iPhone.
- Tap on Settings and then go to General.
- Tap on find Transfer or Reset iPhone >Erase All Content and Settings.
- You will be asked to enter your password.
- Once the erasing process is done, the phone will turn on and you will see the Setup menu.
- Tap Restore from iCloud backup on the Apps & Data screen.
- Under Choose iCloud Backup, choose the desired backup file and wait until the complete restoration is done.
Now you can check the Messages app to see if your missing text messages and iMessages are recovered or not.
3.2. Restore iPhone from iTunes Backup
When you connect your iPhone to your computer, iTunes automatically backs it up. To restore the iPhone from an iTunes backup that includes your missing text messages or iMessages, you need to do the following.
- Connect your iPhone to the computer you typically use with.
- Open the iTunes app on your computer and Tap the device button.
- Click Restore Backup in the Summary pane.
- Now you will be able to see all the backups you have on your system. You can tap on the backup file that you want to restore.
- Wait until the restoration finishes and your iPhone restarts.
If you have used the Encrypt local backup” option, you will be asked to input the backup password. Once you do that, the restore will start and continue for some minutes. The time depends on the size of the backup. The backed-up information including text messages, iMessages, call history, notes, contacts and so in will be restored.
4. The Difference between iMessages and Text Messages
Some people are not so clear about the differences between iMessages and Text Messages. let’s just have a comparison at last.
An iMessage appears in a blue bubble while a text message appears in a green bubble.
iMessages are the messages sent from iMessage which is a service developed by Apple and text messages are the messages which are sent through SMS services provided by the carrier companies.
An iMessage can only be transferred between two Apple devices via Wi-Fi or cellular data. A text message can be shared between any two devices and you need a text messaging plan to send them.
However, both iMessages and text messages are sent through and saved by the Messages app. We hope you have known the differences and have carried out the solutions above without question.
