Easily Fixed: Text Messages Disappeared on iPhone [Five Methods]

My text messages disappeared on iPhone, what can I do?

Five ways to fix text messages disappeared on iPhone

Users of the iPhone have complained about iPhone text messages disappeared 2021/2022. Some said they have lost their text messages after the iPhone update, some said their iPhone text messages disappeared after restart, while some also said their text messages disappeared for no reason. No matter what the cause is, here in this part, we’ll introduce five ways to fix text messages disappeared on iPhone.

Fix 1. Restart Message or your iPhone

First of all, try a simple restart to see if that fixes the problem. A temporary background process may have caused text messages to disappear on iPhone in many cases. If this is the case, restarting Message or your iPhone will end the process, allowing you to retrieve your messages immediately.

Fix 2. Turn on Airplane Mode

The second fix is to turn on Airplane Mode and then turn it off after a while. Because sometimes, the network connection may affect the display of the text messages. So all you need to do is enable the Airplane Mode for a while and then disable it. After this, check your messages app to see if the disappeared messages have been restored or not.

Fix 3. Reactive iMessage

The issue may be with the Message app itself. As a result, to fix the text messages disappeared from the iPhone error, simply reactivate the app. Go to Settings, tap Messages, and then turn off and on iMessage on your iPhone. then go to your Message to check whether the disappeared messages are back.

Fix 4. Restore from iCloud Backup

If you've enabled iCloud backup, you may be able to use it to recover your messages. Go to Settings, tap your Apple ID at the top, then enter iCloud Backup. Here you can see whether you’ve made an iCloud backup or not. If you are, congratulations, you can follow the steps below to retrieve your missing messages from iCloud. If you aren’t, you can jump to the next fix.

Step 1. Open iCloud and then click Manage Storage. Scroll down, find and tap Backups.

Step 2. A list of available backups will appear. Tap one to see when it was saved. Look for one that matches your device and was saved before your text messages disappeared. Please keep the specific backup in mind.

Step 3. Then you need to go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings. This will take a few minutes.

Step 4. When your iPhone wakes up again it will take you through the usual setup. When you’re given the option to recover from a backup, be sure to choose the correct one. Then you can check your Message to see if your disappeared text messages back or not.

Fix 5. Retrieve from iTunes backup

Your messages may also be recoverable from an iTunes backup. Remember that, similar to iCloud, using this method will overwrite any data on your iPhone that is newer than the backup. You should export and save any recent files you want to keep separately.

Step 1. Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes on your computer. Then connect your iPhone to the computer.

Step 2. Click the Device tab.

Step 3. Tick This computer, on the right side, you’ll see whether your iPhone has been backup or not.

• If it says “Your iPhone has never been backed up to this computer” and the Restore Backup is greyed out, then this fix is not working for you. Still, you can click Back Up Now to back up your existing data on your iPhone to avoid the next data missing.

• If the latest backup is available, then click Restore Backup to choose the most relevant one. Click Restore and wait for the restore to finish.

How to avoid text messages disappeared on iPhone

If you’re worried about text messages disappearing on iPhone, you need to take action to back up your messages. In addition to backup iPhone messages to iCloud and iTunes, here we provide you with two more options to avoid your messages disappearing.

Method 1. Keep Messages Forever

You can change the setting on your iPhone to make it keep your text messages forever. The process is pretty easy, just go to Settings > Messages > Keep Messages > Forever.

Method 2. Backup text messages via FoneTool

The second option is to use the free yet professional iOS backup tool FoneTool which allows you to quickly and easily backup and restore iPhone text messages and iMessages. It has the following advantages:

• Fast speed. It can backup 1000+ messages in 1mins35s, faster than many other mobile phone backup software on the market.
• Flexible selection. It allows you to select messages that you want to backup instead of backing up the entire folder.
• Preview messages. It allows you to preview and select the messages to filter unnecessary ones, and you are able to view them any time with FoneTool.
• Free of data loss. It will not erase any existing data on your devices when you restore messages to your iPhone.

Step 1. Download and install FoneTool on your Windows PC. Connect your iPhone to the computer using a USB cable and then launch FoneTool.

Step 2. Click Phone Backup > Locate Selective Backup and click Get Started.

Step 3. Tick Messages only . Click the message icon and uncheck the messages you don’t want to backup, then click OK to return to the main page.

Step 4. click Start Backup to start the task.

Step 5. After the backup, you can check the backup task on the Backup History page. You can choose to Restore, Browse, or Delete the backup files.

Note: FoneTool is also a free and quick iOS data transfer tool. It not only allows you to transfer data between iOS devices but also allows you to transfer data between PCs and iOS devices.

Conclusion

This post mainly introduces how to fix text messages disappeared on iPhone. In addition to the five fixes provided, two more methods on how to avoid text messages disappearing are also offered. The advice we give here is first to keep your Message forever, and at the same time, use the free iOS backup tool FoneTool to backup all or selective messages on your iPhone in case there are any unpredictable situations.