How to Retrieve Text Messages from Old Phone Number on iPhone & Android? [Full Guide]

- Apple Support Community

Switched to a new phone and want to migrate text messages on the old phone number to your new phone? With the development of artificial intelligent technology on smartphones, retrieving expired text messages from the old phone number is now a piece of cake. Check the full guide to resolve how to retrieve text messages from old phone numbers by yourself.

Part 1. Are Deleted Texts Gone Forever?
Part 2. How to Restore Text Messages from Old Phone Number from Backup
Part 3. How to Recover Messages from Old Phone without Backup
Bonus: How to Prevent Message Loss in the Future?

Part 1. Are Deleted Texts Gone Forever?

No. When deleting text messages or other files from your phone, they are not removed from your device immediately. Instead, they are invisible in the phone memory and labeled as replaceable, waiting to be overwritten by the new data. It is great news if you wish to retrieve the deleted messages before the "deadline".

Part 2. How to Restore Text Messages from Old Phone Number from Backup

If you have backed up the old phone number messages before, you can restore them in the following ways.

2.1 How to Get Text from My Old Number via iCloud Backup (iPhone)

Many iPhone users may enable the automatic message backup to iCloud. If you have done the same previously, you can restore texts from iCloud backup with these steps.

1. Open iPhone's Settings > General > Reset.
2. Click Erase All Content and Settings > Erase Now.
3. After erasure, your iPhone will restart. Follow the on-screen prompts to set up your iPhone.
4. On the Apps & Data screen, click Restore from iCloud Backup and pick a backup file that contains your messages.
5. Confirm with your Apple ID password.

2.2 How to Access Old Phone Number Messages from iTunes Backup (iPhone)

Similarly, you can also retrieve text messages from iTunes backup if you have synced your iPhone with iTunes before. Here's how.

1. Plug your iPhone into your computer via a USB cable and open the latest version of iTunes.
2. Tap the iPhone icon when it shows in the iTunes window and choose Summary > Restore Backup.
3. Select the latest backup file containing the old phone number messages and hit Restore.

Further reading:

Ultimate Way to Extract Text Messages from iPhone Backup [Latest Tutorial]

Effectively Recover Deleted WhatsApp Contacts on Android

2.3 How to Retrieve Messages from Old Phone Number via Google Backup (Android)

Android users may choose to back up their messages to Google Drive. Suppose you have backed up your text messages to Google Drive beforehand. In that case, you can restore them from Google Drive.

1. Open the Google Drive app on your Android phone > tap the three lines icon at the upper-left corner > select Backups to check whether you have backed up your phone data.
2. Sign in with the same Google account on a new phone and set up the device with the on-screen instructions.
3. Tap Restore when asked to restore the Google backup to Android during setup.
4. Finish the setup procedure and check the messages folder later.

2.4 How to Restore Texts from Old Phone Number via SMS Backup & Restore (Android)

Other Android users also back up their messages to third-party apps like SMS Backup & Restore. As its name shows, SMS Backup & Restore enables you to back up SMS, MMS, and call logs from your Android phone in XML format and restore the backups from the app to your phone selectively.

Assume you have formerly used SMS Backup & Restore to back up the phone messages. You can get the messages back via the app.

Note: SMS Backup & Restore can only back up and restore RCS messages when you message with the Google's Messages app.

How to retrieve text messages from an Android phone for free?

1. Open SMS Backup & Restore on your Android device.
2. Click the three-line icon > Restore.
3. Define where you want to restore messages and turn on Messages. If necessary, click Select Another Backup to pick other backups you want to restore.
4. Confirm the operation and hit Restore at the bottom.
5. If the app asks you to temporarily set up the default messaging app, click OK, select SMS Backup & Restore, and click Set as default.
6. It will start restoring your messages. When completed, tap Close > OK to set the Messages app back as the default messaging app.
7. Launch the Messages app to check the old messages.

Part 3. How to Recover Messages from Old Phone without Backup

What if there is no backup file, or you never backed up your phone previously? At this moment, the following solutions will help.

3.1 How to Recover Deleted Text Messages by Phone Number on Android via Coolmuster Lab.Fone for Android

Coolmuster Lab.Fone for Android is a powerful app to get old phone numbers back on Android devices without backup. It allows you to preview all the deleted and existing text messages before recovery and select the desired SMS to recover from the phone storage to your computer. Moreover, it is user-friendly and works with the latest Android models (Android 4 to Android 11), such as Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra/S22+/S22, LG V60 ThinQ/V50 ThinQ, etc.

How to retrieve text messages from the phone number on Android directly?

1. Install and run the software on your computer. Next, tap Android Recovery and connect your Android phone to the computer via a USB cable.

2. Enable USB debugging on your phone as prompted. Then follow the on-screen guide to proceed and scan files. After scanning, it will display the phone data on the computer.

Note: If you cannot find the wanted messages, root your device and try scanning the device again.

3. Select Messages on the left sidebar, preview & check the desired messages, and hit the Recover button to recover them to your computer.

You may like:

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Top 5 Android SMS Recovery Apps You'd Better Know (Tutorials Included)

3.2 How to Recover Text Messages from Old Phone Number on iPhone via Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery

If you use an iPhone, you can recover the deleted SMS from an old phone number without backup using Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery. Apart from text messages, you can also directly recover contacts from your iPhone to the computer and export other content to the computer.

Also, it lets you preview data before selective recovery and is compatible with the latest iPhone 14/SE (3rd generation)/13 Pro Max/13 Pro/13/13 mini and earlier models with iOS 5 to iOS 16.

To recover text messages from an old phone number on iPhone:

1. Launch the program on your computer after installation and click iOS Recovery to continue.

2. Connect your iPhone to the computer via a USB cable and trust the computer. Once connected, you will see the data selection interface. Choose Messages on the interface and hit the Start Scan button.

3. After scanning, select Messages from the left panel and view all the texts on the right panel. Later, check the messages you want to recover and tap the Recover to Computer button to save them to your PC.

See also:

[With Tutorial] How to Recover Photos from iPhone without iCloud in 2023?

How to Retrieve Deleted Call Logs on iPhone 14/13/12/11/XS/XR/X Easily and Quickly?

3.3 How to Retrieve Text Messages from a Lost Phone by Contacting Cellular Carriers

Some phone carriers may have a backup of your device messages, contacts, etc. Whenever you cannot find SMS on your phone, try contacting your mobile carrier and ask them if they could help retrieve text messages from the old phone number. Then follow their suggestions.

3.4 How Can I Get Messages from My Old Phone via Sender or Recipient

Your last resort to finding the messages back is to contact the person involved in the conversation. If you are lucky enough, the sender or recipient may still have the text history on their devices. In this situation, you can ask them to forward or take a screenshot of the messages for you.

Bonus: How to Prevent Message Loss in the Future?

It's unpredictable when you will accidentally lose messages from your device. Thus, keeping a regular backup of your phone messages is better. You can back up your iPhone/Android messages to cloud services, like iCloud, Google Drive, etc., the local backup of a computer, or external storage.

To learn more details, you can check the following tutorials:

How to Backup Messages on iPhone to Have Peace of Mind When a Malfunction Attacks Device?

Back Up Text Messages from Android to PC or New Phone [Full Guide]

Wrapping Up

That's how to retrieve text messages from an old phone number. After browsing the above content, you may have a comprehensive study of all the methods. As you can see, Coolmuster Lab.Fone for Android and Coolmuster iPhone Data Recovery work best for directly recovering deleted messages on Android and iPhone. Besides, another distinct advantage over other methods is that both allow you to preview the texts before selective recovery. So, won't you give them a try?

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