Missing text messages after restore to new iPhone

[David Knowles]

After restoring to my new iPhone 15 Pro, I noticed I am missing many old text messages before July 2021.

They are on my old phone and I have it set to keep messages forever and to back up messages to iCloud.

Any idea why they wouldn’t be there?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

So you’re keeping the messages locally, and just including them in the iOS backup? I don’t know why that wouldn’t be working for you, but syncing Messages to iCloud worked fine for me. If you’re backing up to iCloud anyway, it would make more sense to just sync the messages - that automatically removes them from the backup, so your space usage would be about the same.

 

[mistercoffee1]

I had this same issue when I upgraded from my old phone to my 14 Pro, I didn't see old text messages prior to a certain date. I could still find these old text messages by searching for a certain keyword or a recipient of that message from that time, but the messages just didn't appear under default view.
It took maybe 2 or 3 iOS updates before it was magically fixed.

 

[twynne]

After restoring to my new iPhone 15 Pro, I noticed I am missing many old text messages before July 2021.

They are on my old phone and I have it set to keep messages forever and to back up messages to iCloud.

Any idea why they wouldn’t be there?

I'm seeing the same. Confirmed iCloud Messages enabled on both old and new devices, but I only see messages received since the upgrade, nothing older.

Maybe leaving it overnight will do something?!

 

[David Knowles]

I restored it again by not using iCloud but by putting the phones next to each other.

All of them came back.

 

[rorschach]

Last time I restored a backup to a new phone, messages took about a week to restore fully. I’m pretty sure it throttles on battery and cellular so if you keep it plugged in and on Wi-Fi it should help.

 

[twynne]

Not sure how I would do that again as I have an esim which is now on the new iPhone. Also it's quite a pain and takes ages.

It's still odd as the messages all appear fine on other devices, so presumably they're all there in iCloud. All devices are set to retain messages 'forever'.

 

[forcetactic]

I restored phone to phone and yes I am missing most of my message history

 

[twynne]

According to iCloud storage figures, I have 2.7gb of messages data! So I can only assume it's either an issue with restoring the data to iPhone, or something preventing it from displaying in the app.

 

[twynne]

Has anyone made any progress with this as yet? I've logged with Apple Support, spoken with level 1/2/3 agents and today had a call back from the last. They've tried everything obvious and thus far only managed to force a few more months to load. That was after logging fully out of iCloud, toggling the sync options, force restarting etc. I'm still missing well over 10 years worth of messages. All seemingly there in iCloud and visible from other devices, but not visible on this phone.

 

[i4k20c]

this thread brings up a good question - is there another app or way to backup our messages for later viewings? i have some text messages from loved ones who have passed on and would really not want to lose them in the future.

 

[twynne]

I think there's an app that can back things up 'offline' but I don't believe you can put them back on the phone. Can't recall the name I'm afraid.

 

[teckky]

I am running into the same issue now.
It's been a week since I restored from backup, and I am missing messages for about a week worth in many active threads.
I can see everything on my mac, and my iPhone 14, but on the 15, these are still missing.

I am debating erase installing, and doing a hard backup on my Macbook and restore from that backup. BUt I am worried I'll have to spend more time on the esims...
Has anyone been able to resolve this?
I keep on clicking "Sync Now" and toggling icloud for message on and off, but its useless...

spoke to customer support, they were useless...

Any help would be much much appreciated! thank you!

 

[SumYoungGai]

If Messages in iCloud is on, go to settings > iCloud > show all > Messages in iCloud. Toggle off and on and it should trigger a manual sync.

I have been transferring data between phones directly and it seems to work pretty well, but back when I restored from iCloud backup, I had to toggle Messages in iCloud off and on a few times for the first couple days after setup to make sure all my messages were downloaded.