iMessage in iCloud - Time Machine Backup

Question

iMessage in iCloud - Time Machine Backup

I was trying to free up space on my iPad and accidentally hit delete iMessage history after 1 year in iMessage- thinking it would just affect the iPad. Since I had iMessage in iCloud enabled it deleted all my iMessage history after 1 year from all of my devices (iPhone, Mac, iPad) as well as in iCloud (~10 years of iMessage history (25GB)). I didn't have it in an iCloud backup since I was using iMessage in iCloud.

I thought I had permanently lost it but remembered I have been doing Time Machine backups on my Mac which is synced with iCloud iMessages.

My question is: if I restore the iMessage database (including all conversations, attachments, etc) from that iMessage Time Machine backup on my Mac then re-enable iMessages in iCloud will it re-sync all of the deleted messages from iCloud and return them to all the devices?

Posted on Jul 13, 2020 5:38 PM

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Answer 1

Joseph_S.

Community Specialist

Jul 17, 2020 6:47 AM in response to Sharon Grochowski

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities Sharon Grochowski,

We see that you're trying to recover deleted messages. We know how important it is to be able to retrieve that data, and we'd be glad to provide you with some information regarding this issue.

If you were using Messages with iCloud, you will not be able to retrieve those messages. If they are deleted from the device, they are deleted from iCloud as well. So those messages would not be restored to your devices. The article below provides some additional information.

Keep all your messages in iCloud

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

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iMessage in iCloud - Time Machine Backup

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