Got a tip for us?

How to recover deleted messages in Messages on iPad

You can recover text messages you deleted on your iPad for up to 30 days. You just choose the conversations you want to restore from Recently Deleted in the Messages app, and if you use Messages in iCloud, they’re recovered on all your devices where it’s on.

Recovering several recently deleted messages.

  1. Go to the Messages app on your iPad.
  2. Tap the Filter button at the top of the conversation list. Then tap Recently Deleted.
  3. Select the conversations whose messages you want to restore and tap Recover.
  4. Tap Recover Messages.

If you use Messages in iCloud, recovering a conversation or message on your iPad recovers it on every device where Messages in iCloud is on.

Note: Deleting and recovering messages only affects the iPad you’re using and other Apple devices signed in to the same Apple Account. And you can’t recover messages, attachments, and conversations for anyone else.

Future messages from a blocked contact aren’t automatically deleted if you’ve blocked someone in a conversation with non-iMessage, deleted the conversation, and then recovered it.

If you remove a message from a conversation using Undo Send, it’s permanently deleted. Audio messages that expire before being saved aren’t recoverable, either.

See also