How do you retrieve deleted text messages

It looks like I can only recover text that were deleted after the update to 16.1.

You can recover text messages after you have updated to iOS 16 and other newer updates after iOS 16. iOS 16 was introduced on Sept 12.

Anything deleted before the update does not appear.

Correct, if you are referring to iOS 16.

Now, if you deleted messages.....before.....you updated to iOS 16, the messages are surely gone. Even if you were backing up your iPhone, after you deleted a message, the very next backup later that day would have picked up that action and deleted the message from your backup.

So, the only way that you could retrieve a message from a backup would be something like this example:

You deleted the message on Oct 1

You realized that you deleted the message almost immediately after you deleted it, so you could restore it from your current backup of the day before to retrieve the message.

You retrieved the message before the next backup later that day

doug’s Said:

"How do you retrieve deleted text messages"

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Recovering Deleted Messages:

What to Consider:

A. Restore from Today's Backup:

Restore your iPhone from a backup of it that contains these messages, and you could recover them.

B. Check Messages App:

If messages was enabled on your iPhone along with your Apple computer, then check and see if the Messages app is enabled on your Mac to see if it exists in it. You'd start up your Mac, not connecting to the Internet, and open the Massages app. Then proceed from there with retrieving it. Important: Be certain you do not connect to the Internet while booting up, as syncing would delete it. So, power off your router to avoid the connection.

Elsewise, if they're gone, they're gone. That's just the way it is :(

Assuming you have installed iOS 16 on your phone, did you follow the instructions in the support document linked above your name?

Specifically, the part about how to retrieve a deleted message or conversation?

Where are you getting stuck?

doug’s Said:

“It looks like I can only recover text that were deleted after the update to 16.1. Anything deleted before the update does not appear. If there is another option, it would be appreciated.”

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Check your Carrier’s Site:

Log in to your Carrier’s site, seeing if you can view a history there. Doing so, myself, I can see a call log going back 90 days —but not a text messages log.