How to Recover Messages that Were Deleted Years Ago on an Android Device?

"How to recover messages that were deleted years ago on an Android device?"

If you're struggling to recover messages on your Android device that were deleted years ago, don't miss this article. Even if you don't have a backup, you still have a chance to retrieve messages from your Android device that were deleted years ago. With Android Data Recovery, for example, you can retrieve old texts and MMS messages (including those with pictures or videos).

It's certainly frustrating to go through your Android phone's text history and find that old messages that you should have kept are missing, even though you never actively deleted them. But believe me, you're not alone. Sometimes, in order to keep the messaging application running smoothly, we tend to clean up old messages to free up space, but it is inevitable that mistakes will occur in this process. What's more, when we change messaging apps on the same phone, such as switching from the default messaging app to the Google Messaging app, the previous message history may be lost. In addition, the SMS history on the old phone may not be fully transferred to the new device when you replace it.

However, the good news is that if you have SMS backup and restore enabled on your Android phone, or if you have backed up your messages to Google Drive, recovering deleted messages will be a breeze. For those who have not backed up or whose backup has expired, there are many Android SMS recovery solutions to meet their needs.

PART 1 How to Recover Old SMS Messages from Android

It is worth noting that if you turn on the "Automatically Delete Old messages" function in the messaging app, old messages will be automatically cleaned up once the number of messages reaches the preset limit. But remember, as long as you act promptly and follow the right approach, you still have a chance to retrieve those precious text message memories.

When you delete SMS/MMS messages, they are not immediately deleted from the phone's memory. Text can be recovered as long as it is not overwritten by new data. Therefore, when you find that data is lost, please stop sending text messages to the phone and creating any new data in the first place, and quickly retrieve the message as follows.

Method 1 Enable SMS backup and restore data using the backup

SMS Backup and Recovery software is a great help, allowing you to easily save SMS, MMS and call logs in XML format. What's more, you can choose to restore backup messages for all or specific conversations, even if they've been deleted or lost, on demand.If you've already backed up old messages on your phone with SMS Backup and Restore, and the backup files are still on your phone, getting them back on your Android device is as easy as pie.

However, please note that the SMS backup and recovery feature currently only supports the backup and recovery of RCS (Rich Communications Service) Messages when exchanging messages using the Google Messages app.

Next, let's take a look at how to operate SMS backup and restore on an Android phone.

Step 1 Start SMS backup and Restore.

Step 2 Click the three horizontal lines on the screen and select the "Restore" option.

Step 3 After locating the recovery source, slide the Message slider to the right to activate the recovery function. To find another backup, click "Choose another backup" to find it.

Step 4 After confirming the error, tap the Recovery button in the lower right corner of the screen.

If you are prompted to set SMS Backup & Restore as the default messaging app for now, click OK.

In the pop-up window, select "SMS backup and Restore" and click "Set as default". The software will then automatically begin the recovery process.

Step 5 After the restoration is complete, click Close to end the operation. When the system asks you whether to restore the Messages app to the default SMS app, click OK again.

Later, open your SMS app and you will find that all your old messages have been rendered intact. These restored messages are compatible with the vast majority of Android devices on the market, including but not limited to Samsung, Huawei, Google Pixel, LG, OnePlus, MOTOROLA, SONY, ZTE and other brands.

Method 2 Use Android SMS Recovery Software - Geeker Data Recovery Software to Fully Recover your Information

Have you ever been too busy to back up your precious personal or group message history? No need to worry, now you can easily retrieve these text messages from your old phone via PC or Mac. Android Data Recovery is such a powerful tool, it can not only recover long deleted text messages, but also recover pictures, videos, voice messages, GIFs, emojis and other rich text content.

For information on how to use Android Data Recovery to recover text messages that were deleted long ago, please refer to the following steps.

Step 1 Launch the software: First, open the SMS recovery software on your computer, then click "Android Data Recovery Mode" in the left panel to continue.

Step 2 Connect your device: Connect your phone to your computer using a USB cable and confirm the "Allow" authorization on your phone so that the software can recognize and connect your device.

Step 3 Select a recovery type: After the connection is successful, the software guides you to select the file type you want to recover. Just check "Message" and "Message Attachment". If you also want to recover WhatsApp messages, don't forget to check "WhatsApp" and "WhatsApp Attachments." Click "Next" to continue.

Step 4 Authorize and scan: In this case, the software will request USB authorization to perform a deep scan. Follow the prompts to complete your authorization, and the software will scan your phone's memory for messages that have been deleted but can still be recovered.

Step 5 Preview and selection: After the scan is complete, all recoverable messages will be displayed as a list in the center of the screen, and deleted items will be specially marked in red. You can click on the contact number of any message, preview the details on the right, and check the specific text you wish to recover. In addition, turning on "Show Deleted Items only" allows you to focus more on finding deleted SMS or MMS messages.

Step 6 Perform recovery. After confirming the messages to be recovered, click Recovery. Then, follow the prompts to select a suitable output folder to save the recovered text and click "Recover" to confirm.

Now, all inbound and outbound SMS/MMS messages retrieved from old conversations through the above steps will be safely stored in the location you specify, keeping memories at your fingertips.

Method 3 Recover deleted SMS messages using Google Drive

Have you ever worried about getting those important text messages back if your old phone is lost, damaged or not around? Don't worry, if your messages were backed up to Google Drive before they were deleted, the answer is yes.

To retrieve those deleted messages, you can check to see if you have a backup on Google Drive, especially if you don't have a computer. If you want to restore text messages from your old phone to your new phone, be sure to log in to the same Google account you used to back up your old phone.

Recovery of deleted text messages through Google Drive is also very simple, you only need to complete the following actions.

Step 1 Open the Google Drive app on your phone, click the menu button in the upper left corner, and then select the "Backup" option. Here you can check if there is a backup of lost messages.

Step 2 If you find a backup, then after backing up all your important data and files, you can consider restoring the phone to factory Settings or preparing a new phone.

Step 3 Log in to your Google account on your new phone and tap the "Restore" button when prompted to restore your Android backup. Then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Settings, and your old email should reappear in your messaging app.

Tips: This method restores the entire backup, not a single specific text. When using this method, it is important to note that while recovering text messages, you may need to wipe all the data on your phone and reset it to factory Settings. In addition, Google updates your backup regularly, but if you stop using your device for more than two weeks, the backup will expire after 57 days and be automatically deleted from Google Drive. So, remember to review and restore your backup in time!

Method 4 Retrieving SMS Messages from The Sender or Recipient

If you've tried the above and still can't get your text back, reaching out to your conversation partner may be your last resort. If he or she still has your text history or other files, you can ask them to forward the required text messages to you.

FAQs about short message recovery

Q1 How long can I recover messages deleted before?

The question of how far back text messages can be restored depends on whether deleted items have been overwritten by new data. In general, the earlier you take recovery measures, the better your chances of successfully recovering text messages. So, if you find that your text messages are missing, it's best to stop doing anything on your phone immediately, lest the new data overwrite the old data.

Q2 How do I back up SMS messages in my old phone?

To avoid losing text messages again in the future, we recommend that you regularly back up the text messages in your old phone. There are various ways to do this, such as you can turn on the "Back up to Google Drive" option and have Google automatically save a copy of your text messages for you and update it at any time. If you want to focus more on SMS backup and recovery, then SMS backup and recovery app is a good choice. Of course, if you want a more comprehensive backup solution, the Android data backup and recovery app is also worth a try.

Q3 How do I restore old messages to a new phone?

It's also easy to recover text messages from your old phone when you get a new one. You can restore text messages with backups in Google Drive, or use the SMS backup and recovery app to transfer backup messages to your new phone. If neither of these methods work, or you don't find the old text messages you want after recovering, then you can consider using third-party software to help you with this task.

Summary

That's how we show you how to recover long ago deleted text messages. For example, through SMS backup, using Android SMS recovery software, and through Google Drive recovery, you can choose the right data recovery method according to your own situation.