How to retrieve text messages from broken iphone

Question:

Hi,

I'm trying to see if there is a way I can get some data and texts from my phone that went down last week. I'll quickly explain what happened, what I've tried, and where I am now.

My iPhone 5 went down last week. The lock button stopped working over the weekend, and the following Monday night, it went off when I unplugged it. I plugged it back in and it went right on. The following morning, it went off when I unplugged it, and I couldn't get it to go back on. I was able to get it to go on for a few minutes that night on my ride home, but that was it. Whenever it was plugged in, it would just show the black apple screen for a few seconds, fade to black, and show the apple screen again. iTunes recognizes the phone and gives me the option to either update or restore, but neither option works - I get error code 2001. The phone has been stuck in recovery mode ever since (as in, when I plug it in, it shows the black screen with the iTunes symbol and a picture of a plug indicating I must plug the phone and use iTunes: http://support.apple.com/library/content/dam/edam/applecare/images/en_US/mac_app s/itunes/itunes_connect_diagram.png).

I've tried doing everything I read to get out of the screen, including holding the lock and home buttons for 10, 15, 30 seconds, leaving it for days, and trying iTunes and other software to try to connect to it. I went to Apple and there was nothing that could be done, so I now have an iPhone 6.

My phone was off for 9 days in a row. Is there any way to see what text messages were sent to me during that time? I thought that when I activated the new phone, the texts that were sent to me during the time the old phone was off would come through, but nothing did. It was during the Christmas,so I knew there are a bunch of messages that came through that I never saw (I did see iMessages on my iPad, but I'd like to see regular SMS messages).

I also lost a bunch of my wedding and honeymoon pictures. I didn't have a chance to back up the phone since we've been back, so I had to work off a restore from September (all Cloud storage has been full and turned off for over a year, so nothing is actually there I need). Is there any way (service, app...anything) to pull the photos from the hard drive? I really would like to somehow get the phone to go on one more time so I can back it up and restore the new phone to be as current as possible.

Thanks much for the help in advance!

iPhone 6, iOS 8.1.2

Posted on Jan 2, 2015 8:12 AM

"The screen on my iPhone is broken, but I have a very valuable SMS stored in my iPhone. My iPhone screen doesn't respond. I want to Recover SMS/MMS/iMessage from Broken iPhone because my iPhone is still recognizable."

Also Read:

How to Archive and Backup iPhone iMessage/Text Messages

How to Transfer SMS/Text Message from Android to iPhone 12/11/XS/XR/X

It's not uncommon for an iPhone to break a screen, but once it breaks, we can't get into the phone system, and all the data on the iPhone is hard to extract. At this point, you need a professional software to restore or extract the SMS you need, and I believe the iPhone data recovery is your first choice.

The Easiest Way to Restore SMS from Broken iPhone

To restore SMS, I think iPhone data recovery is your very good assistant. This software can restore SMS to you safely and quickly without any data loss. In addition to SMS, it also restores photos, videos, audio, music, Whats App messages, contacts, etc. The following is a more detailed description of this software:

◆ Recover contacts,SMS,photos,video and other data directly from iPhone, iTunes backup and iCloud backup.

◆ Retrieve contacts including numbers, names, emails, job titles, companies, etc.

◆ Supports iPhone 12/11/XS/XR, iPhone 8, iPhone 7(Plus), iPhone6s(Plus), iPhone SE and the latest iOS 14 fully!

◆ Recover data lost due to deletion, device loss, jailbreak, iOS update,etc.

◆ Selectively preview and recover any data you want.

If you need this software to restore SMS or other data, you can download the trial version.

How to Recover SMS/MMS/iMessage from Broken iPhone

Part 1: Recover from iOS

Step 1. Connect iOS Device with Computer

Use the USB cable that comes with your iOS device to connect your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, to your computer. Then launch Dr.Fone on your computer and choose "Data Recovery".

Once the program detects your device, it will show you the window as follows.

Tips: Before running Dr.Fone, you're supposed to download the latest version of iTunes. To avoid the automatically sync, don't launch iTunes when running Dr.Fone. I suggest you to disable the automatical syncing in iTunes beforehand: launch iTunes > Preferences > Devices, check “Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically”.

Step 2. Scan Your Device for Lost Data on It

Simply click the "Start Scan" button to let this program scan your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to scan for deleted or lost data. The scanning g process may last a few minutes, depending on the amount of data on your device. During the scanning process, if you see that the data you're looking for is there, then you can click the "Pause" button to stop the process.

Step 3. Preview and Recover the Scanned Data

The scan will take you some time. Once it's completed, you can see a scan result generated by the program. Data both lost and existing on your device are displayed in categories. To filter out the deleted data on your iOS device, you can swipe the option "Only display the deleted items" to ON. By clicking the file type in the left side, you can preview the found data. And you can see there is a search box on the top right of the window. You can search for a specific file by typing a keyword in the search box. Then save the data to your computer or your device by clicking the recovery button.

Tips: About recovering data

When you find the data you need, just put the check mark in front of the box to select them. After then, click the "Recover" button at the bottom right of the window. By default, the recovered data will be saved to your computer. As for text messages, iMessage, contacts, or notes, when you click Recover, a pop-up will ask you to "Recover to Computer" or "Recover to Device". If you want to put these messages back to your iOS device, click "Recover to Device".

Part 2: Recover from iCloud

Step 1. Choose Recovery Mode

After running Dr.Fone, choose "Data Recovery" and click on it.

Then choose "Recover iOS Data".

After that, you can see there options for you to do data recovery. Choose "Recover from iCloud Backup Files". Then you'll see the window below. Enter your iCloud account and password to login. Dr.Fone takes your privacy seriously. We never keep a record of any your Apple account info or content at any time during your sessions.

Step 2. Download iCloud Backup File

When you logged into iCloud, the program can find all iCloud backup files in your account. Choose the one where you're going to recover data and click on the "Download" button.

And then in the pop-up, you can choose the type of files you would like to download. This will reduce the time of downloading the iCloud backup file. After that, you can scan the iCloud content now. Click on the "Next" button to start downloading. It will take you some time. Just wait for a moment.

Step 3. Preview and Recover Data from iCloud Backup File

The scan will be complete in a few minutes. Once it stops, you can preview almost all data in your iCloud backup file, like contacts, messages, photos, and more. Check them one by one and tick the item you want. Then click on the "Recover to Computer" or "Recover to your device" button to save them on your computer or your device with one click.

Now contacts, messages and notes can be directly recovered to your iOS device if your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch is connected with your computer with a USB cable during the recovery process.

Tips: Directly preview and recover data from downloaded iCloud backup files

If you have downloaded iCloud backup files previously, you don't need to sign in and get off the iCloud backup file again. Click "To preview and scan previously downloaded iCloud backup file" under the account sign-in entrance.

Then you can see all downloaded iCloud backup files displayed in a list. You can choose any of them to extract the content. All these downloaded backup files are located on your own computer. If you don't need them any more, you can click on the trash icon beside the scan button to delete them completely.

Part 3: Recover from iTunes

Step 1. Choose Recovery Mode

Launch Dr.Fone and click "Data Recovery".

Then choose "Recover iOS Data".

You can see three options on the side here. Choose "Recover from iTunes Backup File". After then, the iTunes backup recovery tool will detect all iTunes backup files on this computer and display them in the window. You can confirm which one is the one you need according to the date it has been created.

Step 2. Scan Data from iTunes Backup File

Choose the iTunes backup file that contains the data you want to recover and click "Start Scan". It will take a few minutes to extract all data from the iTunes backup file. Be patient.

Step 3. Preview and Recover Data from iTunes Backup

After a few seconds, all data in the backup file will be extracted and displayed in categories. You can preview them one by one before recovery. Then you can selectively mark and recover those you want by pressing the "Recover" button at the bottom. Now contacts, notes and messages can be directly recovered to your iOS device if you keep your iOS device connected with your computer via a USB cable during the recovery process.

Tips: you can see there is a search box in the result window. From there, you can type in the name of a file to search for it.

Tips: What if your iTunes backup file is located somewhere else?

When your iTunes backup file comes from somewhere, such as moved from another computer with a USB drive, how can you preview and get the content from it? There is a way. When you are at the first step, click "Select" under the list of iTunes backup files, and you can flexibly choose the iTunes backup file no matter where you place it.

Then in the pop-up window, preview and target your iTunes backup file. Then click "Start Scan" and you can move on with the step 2 above. It's pretty useful feature.

Can I access text messages from a broken phone?

Therefore, if your phone is screen broken but the touch screen still works, you can use it to move messages from old broken phone to new phone: Open SMS Backup & Restore > Click Transfer > Choose Send from this phone on your old phone and Receive on this phone on your new phone.