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iCloud Restore for iPhone 6s - Missing Messages/Recent Calls Missing

Day one my wife and I got our new iPhone 6s (with iOS 9.0). We did an iCloud restore from our iPhone 5s with iOS 9.0.1 and it was successful bringing all our data including Messages and Recent Calls. The phones were then updated to iOS 9.0.1. Everything was working fine...


My phone had an issue which ended up getting me a replacement iPhone 6s (iOS 9.0). From here I tried restoring from the past iPhone 6s (with iOS 9.0.1) iCloud restore. Unfortunately, Messages and Recent Calls did not come over from the past iPhone 6s backup and I even tried various of the iPhone 6s time stamped backups. I also updated the new iPhone 6s to 9.0.2 and still no difference with the restore. It wasn't until I reverted back to my iPhone 5s backup (iOS 9.0.1) that it would bring the Messages and Recent Calls over. Note that the inclusion of the Messages and Recent Calls is evident immediately after the initial restart from restore (when the phone starts downloading apps). This has me worried going forth and here is why!


I've done a new backup and a little digging. I've noticed that both my new backup for the iPhone 6s and wife's are both smaller than our iPhone 5s backup was. Example for my device backups: iPhone 5s: 18 GB, iPhone 6s: 17.1 GB. Note that this seems backwards as if there was any difference for whatever reason, I would imagine that it be on the larger resolution device. Also, this difference in size would seem reasonable for not including Messages (includes messages, videos, audio, etc.) and Recent Calls. There may even be other data that this did not bring over as I did not see it benefit in losing years of messages for a week of new data, i.e. I did not research the loss to the full extent.


Has anyone else experienced this issue recently with an iPhone 6s or maybe there is a known issue I just have not stumbled across.

iPhone 6s, iOS 9.0.2

Posted on Oct 3, 2015 5:37 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 13, 2015 4:28 PM

I Spent 6 hours with the geniuses and no one thinks this is a big issue!!!!


not sure if you noticed, but after a restore where all your messages are gone, if you do get new messages, you will not get notified, they will not be in chronological order, if you get multiple messages, the order doesn't change, and most importantly, if you turn your phone off and back on, all those messages will be erased. (this last part they "fixed" by resting settings)

198 replies

Nov 18, 2015 12:12 PM in response to pardthemonster

Hi all


I'm having this problem too. Restored an iCloud backup from my previous 64GB 6S Plus to a replacement 64GB 6S Plus and first suspected something was wrong when my iPhone froze on a white screen with a black Apple logo.


After the restore was complete I found that all of my messages were gone, all of my health data was gone, and all of my call history data was gone. However, I still had 94mb of health data and 31mb of messages listed in the storage usage screen in my settings, so clearly there's something in there.


Like others, I'm having issues with not getting SMS notifications. Additionally, the Health app seems to be corrupted. I cannot add any new data to it, and the Health app doesn't recognise any of my apps as sources of health data or as being able to access health data. It doesn't even list the iPhone itself as a HealthKit data source, which it should do straight out of the box.

This suggests to me that the data isn't gone, but that the databases have been corrupted somehow. It also suggests that people shouldn't just accept the idea that their data is gone and move on, because there's clearly something going wrong in our iPhone's software. Myself and others have experienced stability issues as well missing data, so we really don't know what else is going wrong "under the hood".

Since the issue seems to be isolated to cases where people restore an iPhone 6S(+) using an iPhone 6S(+) backup, I've decided to try digging out an old 4S, restoring my 6S Plus backup to that, backing up that iPhone to iCloud, then restoring that backup to my new 6S Plus. I will report back on how it goes.

Nov 18, 2015 1:33 PM in response to JacksterD

Quick update


I just tried restoring my original iPhone 6S Plus from two days ago to my iPhone 4S to see if it would work, and I'm having the exact same issue. The 4S freezes on a white screen with a black Apple logo after starting the restore. I have to force restart it, then after it finishes restoring I have no messages and no health data. Again, the health database seems corrupted as I can't add anything to it.


It looks like the issue may not be with restoring 6S backups to another 6S - it seems it's with 6S backups regardless of what it's restored to.

Nov 19, 2015 5:32 AM in response to pardthemonster

My dad had the iPhone 6+ from December 2014. He accidentally dropped it on 11/6 and shattered the screen. We did the iCloud backup.

Got a new iPhone 6s on 11/6. Restored from that backup - worked fine, no issues.


11/17 - decided that small phone was too small for him. Went to Apple Store exchanged for iPhone 6s+. Did the restore from iCloud backup from 11/17 from the 6s and like others reported: call history, text messages, and health data all gone.


I tried restoring his 11/6 backup and everything came back to the 11/6 backup, but he lost about 11 days of text messages and call history.


SUPER FRUSTRATED!!!!!!!

Nov 20, 2015 10:18 AM in response to pardthemonster

Add me to the list of those having this problem. I had to replace my iphone 6S with another 3 days ago. All 3 of my iPhone 6S backups have no texts, corrupt apps, no text notifications, etc. I spoke with a senior tech support person last night, and was told this was being looked into further, and that they will follow up with me. For now I'm using my iPhone 6 backup from September, so I at least have texts up to that point...

Nov 20, 2015 10:38 AM in response to pardthemonster

Hi all,


Same issue here, however mine started after Touch ID and Passcode stopped working. My story below.

  • Alarm went off as normal in the AM. Went to turn off but Touch ID would NOT let me in. Perhaps I just didn't have the right "touch angle" since I was lying in bed. I was eventually prompted to enter the Passcode which also somehow REFUSED to let me in even though I was 100% sure I had the right code (how can you really get that wrong after three+ tries?). This was very surprising, and a bit scary. Tried a few similar variations just in case. None worked. I was locked out of my phone.
  • I'm convinced that this is a glitch with the 6S, as I tried every 6 digit combo that I could have possibly used originally. I believe that (somehow) the multiple "rejections" by Touch ID affected the Passcode's acceptance of my credentials. I've logged in dozens of times via Passcode on my 6S which is another indicator that this was a glitch.
  • Since I was at work without access to iTunes on my home computer, my only option at this point was to remotely wipe the device using Find My iPhone, which worked, sort of.
  • As others have reported, the reinstall hung up after about 10 minutes where the dreaded white background + black Apple logo wouldn't budge for anything. Forced to do a hard reset.
  • Upon reset, reinstall continued and eventually the iOS Welcome Screen appeared.
  • Proceeded through all steps only to notice that ALL messages and call data were gone.


Fortunately, I had only picked up the 6S about 5 or 6 days prior and still had an iCloud backup of my iPhone 6. Ended up loading this onto the phone and it worked like a charm. Only lost a few days of text messages.


Conclusion: As of now, any iCloud backups made using a 6S will NOT restore successfully to another iDevice. Specifically your text messages, call history and health data will be gone. Any backups made from another iDevice will restore just fine, even on a 6S. This whole issue only applies to iCloud backups originating from a 6S. Best to wait until this issue gets addressed by Apple to fiddle with backups unless you really have to. Also consider using iTunes to backup/restore your data which I should have been more diligent with. Hope this helps!

Nov 21, 2015 3:02 AM in response to pardthemonster

i had the same problem.


ie. restored from 5s. got a 6s+, did an icloud restore, data came across perfectly, but the 6s+ had screen issues (uneven backlighting issue). got a replacement 6s+. did icloud restore. hmm. no messages, and i think im missing some contacts as well. not happy.


please let me know if anyone overcomes this..


many thanks

iCloud Restore for iPhone 6s - Missing Messages/Recent Calls Missing

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