How to Turn Off Auto Delete Old Conversations + Recover

PDF download Download Article
Delete or recover old messages on iOS
PDF download Download Article

Are older texts on your iPhone or iPad being deleted after a few months? You can choose to keep your messages for 30 days, 1 year, or forever. Here's how to turn off auto-delete old conversations on your iPhone and iPad.

Quick Steps

  1. Open Settings .
  2. Tap Apps .
  3. Tap Messages .
  4. Tap Keep Messages .
  5. Tap Forever .
Section 1 of 2:

Disabling Auto Delete

PDF download Download Article
  1. This is the cog icon.
    • When this feature is set to anything other than Forever , it will permanently delete older messages. If needed, you can try to recover deleted messages .
  2. If you're using an older version of iOS, you can skip this step.
    Advertisement
  3. This is next to the speech bubble icon.
  4. You can find this towards the bottom of the page; you may need to scroll down to find it.
  5. Messages will no longer be deleted automatically from your device.
    6. Advertisement
Section 2 of 2:

Recovering Deleted Messages

PDF download Download Article
  1. If you want to recover messages deleted by this feature, you can try checking the Recently Deleted section. [1] This feature is only available on iOS 16 and later.
    • Open Messages .
    • Tap Edit .
    • Tap Show Recently Deleted .
    • Tap the message.
    • Tap Recover .
  2. If you want to recover deleted messages not found in your Recently Deleted, you can try restoring from a backup .
    • If you have Messages enabled in iCloud, the changes may have already synced, and it's unlikely you'll be able to recover the messages.
  3. Contact Apple. If the above methods don't work, you can try contacting Apple's support team for help in restoring your messages.
    4. Advertisement

Expert Q&A

Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
      Advertisement

      Tips

      Submit a Tip
      All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
      Name
      Please provide your name and last initial
      Submit
      Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

      You Might Also Like

      How to
      Install & Play 8 Ball in iMessage: A Beginner's Guide
      How to
      Play Games in iMessage with Your Friends: Step-by-Step
      Simple Steps to Activate iMessage on Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac
      How to
      Sync Messages Between Your iPhone and iPad
      How to
      Tell If a Text Was Delivered or Read on iPhone, iPad, or Mac
      Send iMessages with Custom Color Bubbles
      How to
      Lock Messages on iPhone: 4 User-friendly Methods
      9 Simple Ways to Fix Pictures Not Showing in iMessage
      How to
      Use iMessage
      How to
      Delete, Disable, or Mute iMessage on Your Mac Computer
      How to
      Make a Whale on Apple Messages
      How to
      Send Fireworks on iPhone
      How to
      Access iMessages on iCloud: 2 Simple Methods
      How to
      Send Confetti on Apple Messages
      Advertisement

      References

      1. ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-al/guide/iphone/iph16ecebf48/ios

      About This Article

      Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 526 times.

      Is this article up to date?

      Advertisement