iPad Is it OK to use an older backup?

[I Need a Drink]

The other day, my iPad randomly said that I needed to login to iMessage again. Since then, I can send messages, but the replies and other new messages don't show up on my iPad. All of my other devices work fine. I tried to log back out and in several times. I rebooted, hard rebooted and still nothing.

I decided to log out of iCloud on the iPad and then manually remove all of the messages before logging back in and letting them re-download from the cloud, but Apple must have changed something because now when you are logged out of iMessage, you can't do anything in the app until you sign in again. Now there is just a persistent window telling you to sign in, whereas before you could close that window and then manually delete the messages in the app. I also can't delete the messages through the System Storage in the Setting App either.

I guess I am going to just erase the iPad and restore a backup. I can restore my last iCloud backup which is about 2 days old, or I can restore my encrypted iTunes backup from October 20th. Since my messages should reload from the Cloud, my email is all IMAP and I haven't made any significant changes since the 20th, is there any reason not to use that backup instead of the more recent iCloud one? The reason I prefer the encrypted backup is for logins of apps and stored WiFi passwords as well.

 

[ericwn]

To my knowledge encrypted should be fine to restore from.

 

[I Need a Drink]

To my knowledge encrypted should be fine to restore from.

I appreciated the reply. I've restored from encrypted in the past so I know they are fine. Thank you, though. I was more or less curious as to if there was a reason not to use an older backup? Even though this one is not that old.

 

[AutomaticApple]

I was more or less curious as to if there was a reason not to use an older backup? Even though this one is not that old.

Does your newest backup contain any data that you might lose doing an older backup?

 

[I Need a Drink]

I went ahead erased the iPad and restored using the old backup from the 20th. This backup was from before the iPad asked me to re-login into iMessage.

I logged back in, let the iPad set up my apps and then sent a test message from my iPhone. Message went out fine, but does not show on my iPad. Neither do any of the responses.

I've checked settings on my iPhone and iPad and both are set up properly for iMessage and text forwarding. I have no idea why my iPad is not receiving new texts or showing ones set from another device. It is working just fine on my Watch, all my Macs and my iPhone. This is not a new iPad. It is a 10.5" Pro that I have had for a couple of years and never had a problem with messages, so I don't know why this has happened all of a sudden or why a full restore hasn't corrected the issue. Any ideas?