How to Restore an iPhone That Brings Back Deleted SMS

Restore your iPhone to a previous backup date to recover deleted SMS.

The restore feature in iTunes enables you to recover SMS messages accidentally deleted from your iPhone. It also provides a list of previous iPhone backups for an easy recovery. By restoring the iPhone to an earlier date -- before the SMS message was deleted -- you can recover it without losing your music and other media stored on the device. As a safety precaution, back up your iPhone's data monthly to maintain a large, current backup library.

Things You'll Need

• iPhone USB device cable
• iTunes 10.2 or later

Instructions

1. Plug the USB device cable into the bottom of the iPhone and into your computer's USB port.

2. Open iTunes, and click the iPhone icon shown in the left menu. Right-click the phone's icon, and click "Back up" to save your phone's current information.

3. Right-click the phone's icon after the backup is finished, and click "Restore from Back up."

4. Click "Continue" in iTunes, and click "Restore from backup of." Click the drop-down menu in the iTunes restore window, and click a backup date prior to the deletion of the SMS message.

5. Click "Continue" and wait for iTunes to restore the backup data to the iPhone.

6. Click "Eject" next the iPhone's icon in iTunes, and remove the cable from the iPhone.

7. Tap "Messages" on the iPhone's screen, and locate the restored SMS message.

References

• Apple: iPhone and iPod Touch - About Backups

Resources

• Apple: iTunes