If
you've accidentally deleted text messages by mistake, fret not! You
can get lost SMS back with a 99% chance of success, but there's one
ingredient that is most important: time! If you've deleted your SMS
inbox you have to act quick, because the messages are only
recoverable until the portion of memory on which they are saved is
rewritten. So the longer you wait the higher the likelihood of
getting new text messages, app updates or who-knows-what saved to the
same location, obliterating them forever. Here's how to recover lost
text messages on Android.
Tools to recover deleted SMS
There
are a couple of different PC-based tools to help you through this
part of the process, and of course, also for Mac users. Generally
speaking they are free (or have a free trial) and do the job equally
as well as one another.
The
particular tool you choose will depend on your personal preference,
but they all do basically the same thing: scan your Android's memory,
identify and recover your ''deleted'' messages. They'll all walk you
through the process, which is usually only four steps long: connect,
scan, preview, recover. The process works for other data besides text
messages as well. Some programs worth trying out include:
Wondershare
Dr. Fone for Android (requires
root)
How to recover lost text messages on Android
Depending
which program you choose, the steps may be different, but all you
essentially have to do is the following (I'll use Wondershare for
illustration purposes):
1.
Download
and install one of the programs above. Launch the program on your
computer.
2.
Enable
USB Debugging on your Android. To do this, you need to have access to
the Developer Options in your main Settings menu. If you don't, just
go to About Phone, scroll down to Build Number and start tapping
repeatedly.
You'll
now get access to Developer Options in the main Settings menu (just
above About Phone). Go into Developer Options, scroll down to USB
Debugging (or Android Debugging, depending on your ROM) and check the
box.
3. Connect your Android to your computer (with the recovery program installed and program running) with a USB cable.
4.
Follow
the prompts in the recovery program to scan or analyze your Android's
memory.
5.
Once
the process is complete you will have access to browse and preview
the data stored on your Android device (whether it has been
''deleted'' or not. As long as the particular part of memory on which
is was originally stored has not been saved over, you can still get
the data back. This is why it's important to act quickly if you've
lost data.
6.
Simply
locate your text message folder (or however the particular program
displays your data), select the messages you wish to recover and
either use the Recover action in the program to put them back on your
device or save them to your computer for safe keeping.
Note:
if
you want to complete this process without a PC, chances are you will
need root access on your device and more than likely a paid recovery
app. In any case, it's easier and free to use a computer.
How to never lose a text message again
Ok,
so maybe you've learned your lesson, maybe you haven't. If you're not
into paying for any of the programs above long-term or simply don't
like the free options, your best bet is to ensure you don't have a
need for them again. This means backing up your messages from now on.
It's so simple it only takes five minutes to save yourself the pain
of having to deal with this situation again.
I
use a free app called SMS
Backup & Restore.
It's straightforward, looks nice and works perfectly: basically all
you need for this type of operation. Check out the screenshots below
for the walkthrough. Read More.......
