Recover iPhone Messages from Mac?
June 27, 2017 4:23 PM Subscribe
My iPhone has been having issues and just deleted my message history. However, I still have all of them on the Messages program on my Macbook. Is there a way to transfer them back to the phone?
For the past few weeks my iPhone (iPhone 6 running iOS 10.1.1) has started randomly running very slowly or freezing up, necessitating frequent restarts. Today it happened repeatedly, until I realized I wasn't getting text messages anymore (I noticed because I was on my Macbook and was getting messages through Messages but not the phone). I turned the phone off and on again, but now my entire message history on my phone is gone.
The phone seems to be working fine now, and is receiving and sending messages again, but I'd like to get my history back. On my Macbook I have my entire message history still available in the Messages program. Is there a way I can transfer that to my phone? I haven't backed up my phone in a long time, unfortunately, and don't want to try that. Thanks!
For the past few weeks my iPhone (iPhone 6 running iOS 10.1.1) has started randomly running very slowly or freezing up, necessitating frequent restarts. Today it happened repeatedly, until I realized I wasn't getting text messages anymore (I noticed because I was on my Macbook and was getting messages through Messages but not the phone). I turned the phone off and on again, but now my entire message history on my phone is gone.
The phone seems to be working fine now, and is receiving and sending messages again, but I'd like to get my history back. On my Macbook I have my entire message history still available in the Messages program. Is there a way I can transfer that to my phone? I haven't backed up my phone in a long time, unfortunately, and don't want to try that. Thanks!
If I were you, I'd wait until this fall. iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra (yes, that name isn't a joke) will gain iMessages on iCloud. What this means is, that your existing iMessages on your Mac will be uploaded to iCloud and then will also be on your iPhone (and any device you have connected to iCloud).
More information here. Simply put, leave all your messages on your Mac, and send/receive on your iPhone as normal, then once High Sierra is released sometime in September/October, download and install it (do not do a clean install – instead, just do an upgrade so your iMessages are preserved on your Mac!), then it should push all iMessages on your Mac up to iCloud. Once this is finished, install iOS 11, and all iMessages should be synced.
And, yes, all retroactive (old) iMessages should be pushed to iCloud at that time, so you won't lose anything.
Hope this helps!
posted by dubious_dude at 8:47 PM on June 27, 2017
More information here. Simply put, leave all your messages on your Mac, and send/receive on your iPhone as normal, then once High Sierra is released sometime in September/October, download and install it (do not do a clean install – instead, just do an upgrade so your iMessages are preserved on your Mac!), then it should push all iMessages on your Mac up to iCloud. Once this is finished, install iOS 11, and all iMessages should be synced.
And, yes, all retroactive (old) iMessages should be pushed to iCloud at that time, so you won't lose anything.
Hope this helps!
posted by dubious_dude at 8:47 PM on June 27, 2017
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posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:15 PM on June 27, 2017