Question Retrieve deleted text messages

[Sillycat41]

I accidentally deleted a series of text message. I only wanted to delete the most recent on and they all disappeared. Is there any way to get them back? I found some apps that say they can retrieve message but they aren't free and if they don't work I'm out money too. Is there a Trash folder where they go?

Also how can I back up my phone data onto my laptop for incidents like this? Thanks!

 

[VidJunky]

Typically it's impossible to recover SMS and MMS messages that have been deleted and I'm not sure I would trust any app/service that says it can. In my time here at AC I have yet to encounter a user that reported successful recovery of deleted messages.

What app were you using?

How did you perform this deletion? By what method did you do this, swiped it away, opened a menu and chose delete, picked each message, how did you delete these messages?

I found with Google Messages if the conversation is swiped away there's a chance it ended up in your archive instead of being fully deleted. On the other hand if a menu was opened and delete chosen, the messages are gone.

The only way to secure your messages is with intentional backups. Sometimes you can unintentionally get messages back by changing messaging apps. When starting some new messaging apps they will ask what you want to transfer and choosing options like, everything, or all-time, the new app can find them. It hasn't happened for me in a long time but I remember being able to recover years old messages this way so it may not work anymore.

The best defense is being prepared in this case and getting a backup service now so that it can't happen to you again. Which sucks given what you've lost but the alternative is losing something else in the future.

 

[Sillycat41]

Thanks for responding. I didn't actually try a retrieval app... thought I'd ask if they actually work first. I use the Messages app that was on the LG Android phone. After I read the message I clicked on the three dots and chose "Delete"... then it said "Delete this conversation? This action cannot be undone."

I clicked delete because I thought it would only delete the current message not all the messages from that person. There was no option to delete only one message. If I swipe it away it is archived but I didn't want this particular message archived. Oh well.

I'll have to learn how to backup the phone data onto my laptop. Thanks for your help.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Please don't type in bold...

To delete a individual message, press and hold that message, not the entire conversation/from the overview.

As vidjunky said, they are gone. Best you can do is learn from this mistake (life is one big lesson, we're all learning) and download a SMS backup app to automatically backup in intervals in case it happens again.

 

[VidJunky]

The reason I mentioned the archive feature is to say that it can be recovered from an archive. I rarely delete messages, like intentionally delete them, more often than not I accidentally swipe them away. Having this archive feature has saved me a ton of times.

Anyway, good luck and best wishes.

 

[Sillycat41]

Please don't type in bold...

To delete a individual message, press and hold that message, not the entire conversation/from the overview.

As vidjunky said, they are gone. Best you can do is learn from this mistake (life is one big lesson, we're all learning) and download a SMS backup app to automatically backup in intervals in case it happens again.

Sorry. I have poor eyesight so I got in the habit of using bold to verify text errors. I'll download a SMS backup app and use starting using it. Thanks.

 

[Sillycat41]

The reason I mentioned the archive feature is to say that it can be recovered from an archive. I rarely delete messages, like intentionally delete them, more often than not I accidentally swipe them away. Having this archive feature has saved me a ton of times.

Anyway, good luck and best wishes.

Okay, got it. Thanks.