How long do messages stay on iPhone?

By default, the iPhone keeps all messages forever (or until you manually delete them). If you prefer, tap "30 Days" or '1 Year." If you do, the iPhone will automatically discard your messages after the selected time period.
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Do iPhone messages ever disappear?

Sometimes iPhone text messages disappear from the inbox after an iOS software update or after a restart, but there are also cases that text messages just disappear from iPhone suddenly. If you have made backups for your iPhone before, you can always recover lost iPhone messages by restoring from iPhone backup files.
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How long do text messages stay on phone?

They sit on the company's server for anywhere from three days to three months, depending on the company's policy. Verizon holds texts for up to five days and Virgin Mobile keeps them for 90 days. AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint do not keep the contents of text messages.
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How far back do text messages go?

All of the providers retained records of the date and time of the text message and the parties to the message for time periods ranging from sixty days to seven years. However, the majority of cellular service providers do not save the content of text messages at all.
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How far back can you see texts on iPhone?

How Far Back Can Text Messages be Retrieved on iPhone? As we mentioned above, you can easily scroll to the first message on iMessage only if conversation history is kept on your iPhone. It means that you can retrieve text messages on iPhone even 4 years ago or longer.
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How Long Are TEXT Messages Stored on iPhone after Deletion



Are text messages stored forever?

Probably not—although there are exceptions. Most cell phone carriers don't permanently save the enormous amount of text-message data that is sent between users every day. AT&T Wireless, for example, says it keeps sent text messages for 48 hours only—after that, they are wiped off the system.
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Does iMessage delete After years?

In “Settings,” tap “Messages.” In “Messages,” scroll down and tap “Keep Messages.” By default, Messages is set to keep your SMS text messages and iMessages forever. Tap either “30 Days” or “1 Year” depending on how long you'd like to keep your old messages.
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Does Apple keep text messages?

For your convenience, iMessages are backed up in iCloud and encrypted if you have enabled either iCloud Backup or Messages in iCloud. You can turn off both iCloud Backup and Messages in iCloud whenever you want.
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Can old text messages be recovered?

Even when you 'permanently' clear messages, you're simply getting the phone to stop listing it in the deleted items folder. You can't recover such texts on the phone itself, but there are plenty of commercially available software packages you can buy that allow your PC to read data directly from a SIM card.
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How long are iMessages stored?

More of a revelation was the fact that Apple stores the information for 30 days. Choosing how to send messages is tricky and has caused Apple problems in the past, especially when a user switches from iPhone to Android.
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How can I retrieve text messages from years ago?

Restore Texts from a Wireless Backup

If you are currently using a wireless backup service, check when the last backup was made. If the most recent backup was made before you accidentally deleted the texts, you can restore that backup to your phone and the text messages will be restored to your phone as well.
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Why are my old text messages gone?

Text messages can disappear from your Android device when you delete them accidentally, restart the device the wrong way, use outdated firmware, activate the delete option for old messages, or upgrade errors and software bugs.
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Where are deleted iPhone messages stored?

When a text message is deleted on the iPhone, it doesn't disappear permanently. First, a copy of it is sent to the network provider. Next, the copy in your phone isn't permanently deleted, but rather marked as "deleted" by the iPhone's internal database.
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Where do deleted messages go on iPhone?

There is no trash or recently deleted folder with the iOS messaging app. If you have a backup that would have had the deleted texts in it, you can restore the entire device from that backup. Otherwise, deleted texts are gone.
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Where do deleted texts go?

The Android operating system stores text messages in the phone's memory, so if they're deleted, there's no way to retrieve them. You can, however, install a text message backup application from the Android market that allows you to restore any deleted text messages.
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Can police recover deleted iMessages?

Keeping Your Data Secure

So, can police recover deleted pictures, texts, and files from a phone? The answer is yes—by using special tools, they can find data that hasn't been overwritten yet. However, by using encryption methods, you can ensure your data is kept private, even after deletion.
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How do I see old iMessages?

To find old iMessages:
  1. Open Messages. ...
  2. Drag your finger downwards across the middle of your screen to reveal a search bar. ...
  3. Tap the Search Bar and type in keywords from the message, or the name of someone in the conversation. ...
  4. Tap Search. ...
  5. Select the message you were looking for to go to the conversation.
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Does Apple delete text messages?

If you have turned on this feature, your iPhone will keep deleting messages automatically and regularly. So, to prevent your iPhone from deleting text messages automatically, you just need to turn off the Auto-Delete feature on iPhone.
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Why can't I see my old Imessages?

If your problem is a little different in that your iDevice isn't searching through any of your texts, then it's quite possible that the Message App is toggled off in Siri & Search. To check, go to Settings > Siri & Search > Messages > and make sure Show Siri Suggestions in App and Show in Search are toggled ON.
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How do I permanently delete text messages from iCloud?

Tap on “Manage Storage”. It will show you detail about the total storage and free space left in your iCloud drive. Step 3. Click “Messages”, simply tap on the “Disable and Delete” option, a confirmation notification will pop up, then click on “Delete Messages”.
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How long are deleted Imessages stored on iPhone?

Go to Settings > Messages > Keep Messages and make sure it is set to Forever. The other options are 30 Days and 1 Year, after which your messages are deleted automatically.
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Can someone read my deleted text messages iPhone?

Deleted text messages are truly GONE. Nobody can access them. Unless you have a program installed that archives/backs up messages. In that case, deleting them from your phone won't delete them from the backup.
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Are text messages saved in iCloud?

Answer: According to What iCloud Backup Includes from Apple, iMessage, text (SMS), and MMS messages are included in iCloud backup. So the messages on your iPhone, no matter they are text messages, SMS messages, MMS messages, iMessages, all are included in the iCloud backup.
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Why do old texts disappear from iPhone?

If you're asking about why some messages disappear after being in your inbox for quite some time, this may be due to your Message History being automatically deleted. To check if your messages are automatically deleted, go to Settings > Scroll down to Messages > Scroll down to Message History.
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Why did my iPhone delete my messages?

Incorrect settings.

You can go to Settings > Messages > Keep Messages to have a check. If it is not Forever, it is the reason that iPhone deleted all messages. And set the option to Forever, please, in case you will lose your messages due to this reason again.
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