How to retrieve deleted text messages on my phone

How to retrieve deleted text messages on my phone

You cannot undo the deletion to restore deleted texts on your Android smartphone.  |  Photo Credit: Getty Images

Even with the excessive usage of WhatsApp to send and receive messages, we’ve all been through that gut-wrenching moment when you delete a text message only to realise that you really needed it. And now that it’s gone, how do you get it back? Does your Android phone have a recycle bin? Nope. Then? What can you do to recover deleted text messages on your Android phone, and what to do to keep it from happening again?

Unlike your computer, which has a trash can or recycle bin that holds all deleted files for some time before deleting them, your Android device doesn’t have one, neither can you undo the deletion to restore deleted texts once you confirm the action.

Like deleted files hidden in a computer’s hard drive waiting for retrieval or replacement, your Android device keeps everything you delete including text messages long enough before space is needed to save more data.

Your best bet, other than requesting the sender to resend the message, is to put your device in Airplane mode and find an SMS recovery app to help you the deleted messages on your Android before they’re overwritten.

Recover deleted text messages with Android SMS recovery software

Connect Android to Windows

First of all, launch Android Data Recovery on a computer. Connect your phone to a computer with a USB cable. The programme will automatically detect your Android phone.

Choose to restore text messages

Once the computer and the phone are connected, the programme will prompt you to choose what kind of data you would like to recover from your Android device. In this case, choose "Messages" and click "Next".

Install FonePaw App

The programme will then scan your Android phone for deleted messages. Install the FonePaw app on your phone. Enable install via USB and tap on Install when you see a pop-up on your Android phone.

Permission to scan deleted messages

Once the app is installed, you can give permission to Android Data Recovery to access your deleted data. Tap Allow when FonePaw asks you to allow its access to read messages on your phone. After you have granted all permissions, click Scan Authorized Files to scan the deleted messages.

Recover text messages from Android

The programme will first perform a standard scan on your phone. If you are still unable to see your deleted message, click Deep Scan to find more.

Deep scan for recovery

After the deep scan, deleted messages will be displayed in red font. If you want to look at the deleted SMS only, just tap "Only display the deleted items" to turn it on. Click the text messages you want to restore and then press the "Recover" button.

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How to retrieve deleted text messages on my phone
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Did you accidentally delete an important text message on your Android phone? If so, you can try to recover your message using a Google Drive backup (if you have one) or a third-party method. We’ll show you the available ways.

RELATED: How To Back Up and Restore Your WhatsApp Messages with Google Drive

What Are My Options for Recovering Deleted Texts on Android?

Depending on whether you created your phone’s backup prior to losing your messages or not, you have two options for performing a recovery.

If you made a Google Drive backup before you lost your messages, simply restore the backup and all your SMS and MMS messages will be back. Be warned that this involves a factory reset, but a reset is good for optimizing your phone’s efficiency anyway.

In case you forgot to make a backup, all hope is still not lost. There are several Android message recovery apps on the market, and you can use one or multiple of these apps to try and potentially recover your text messages.

Note: The exact steps to follow vary by the device you use. This guide gives you a general idea of the steps you need to follow.

Restore Deleted Text Messages With a Backup

If you have enabled Google Drive backups on your Android phone, you can restore your backup to recover the deleted text messages.

The main caveat with using this method is that, to restore your backup, you will have to reset your phone to the factory settings. This means you will have to erase all the content on your phone to be able to restore your lost text messages. If you choose to proceed with this method, back up the important files on your Android phone.

Then, start the reset process by launching the Settings app on your phone. In Settings, at the bottom, tap “System.”

How to retrieve deleted text messages on my phone

On the “System” screen, tap “Reset Options.”

How to retrieve deleted text messages on my phone

On the “Reset Options” screen, tap “Erase All Data (Factory Reset).”

Warning: Make sure you’re comfortable with all your phone’s current data being deleted.

How to retrieve deleted text messages on my phone

Follow the on-screen instructions to finish resetting your phone. When that is done, start setting up your phone from scratch.

When your phone asks you to sign in with a Google account, choose the account that you used to make your phone’s backup. This way you will have access to your Google Drive backup.

Then, choose the option to restore your data from a backup, select your Google Drive backup, and enable the “SMS Messages” option.

Your phone will start loading contents from your backup, and when that is all done, you should see all your messages restored on your phone.

Restore Deleted SMS Messages Without a Backup

In case you did not make a backup prior to losing your messages, you can use one of a few Android data recovery apps on the market to recover your messages.

One of the apps you can use is Dr. Fone Android Data Recovery, and another is PhoneRescue. Nearly all these apps work pretty much the same way. They scan your phone to find traces of lost messages and then allow you to selectively restore those messages on your phone.

Keep in mind that there’s no guarantee your text messages will be recovered with these apps, and they can also be quite expensive. But since you do not have a backup, this unfortunately is the option you are left with.

Future Tip: Enable Backups on Your Android Phone

If you regret not making a backup of your phone, you should enable the option right now to avoid further data losses in the future. Setting up an automatic Google Drive backup is not difficult and only takes a few taps.

To do so, first, launch the Settings app on your phone. In the app, tap the “System” option.

How to retrieve deleted text messages on my phone

On the “System” page, tap “Backup.”

How to retrieve deleted text messages on my phone

In the bottom-right corner, tap “Turn On” to activate Google Drive backup on your phone.

How to retrieve deleted text messages on my phone

Follow the on-screen instructions, and Google Drive will then regularly back up the contents of your phone. Later, when you need your deleted SMS, MMS, and other data, you can restore these backups on your phone.


You may want to restore your in-app purchases after setting up your phone from scratch. Check out our guide to learn how to do just that.

RELATED: How to Restore In-App Purchases on Android

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Can I retrieve deleted text messages from my phone?

Use data recovery software So it's all lost, and you want to recover your messages. It may be possible to obtain them using data recovery software to scan your phone for deleted content and retrieve whatever may still exist. Doing a simple Google search will show you plenty of data recovery tools for Android devices.

How do I get my deleted text messages?

How to restore deleted messages on Android.
Open Google Drive on your phone..
Open the menu by clicking on the three lines button at the top left corner..
Now, select 'Backups'..
Check if your data has been backed up..