Two Ways to Extract/Restore iPhone MMS/SMS/iMessage from iTunes Backup
"I use iTunes to back up my iMessages on my iPhone to my computer, but I cannot view the exact messages. Does iTunes back up text messages, MMS or iMessages on iPhone really? If yes, Can I restore iPhone text messages from iTunes backup?" – Churchill
"I made iPhone backup on iTunes on my Mac. But I accidentally deleted my text messages and iMessages on my iPhone. So now, I want to recover the deleted items. How can I extract my text messages, message attachments, and iMessages from iTunes backup to my iPhone? Should I find a certain iTunes backup extractors online?" - Amber
When you use iTunes to back up or restore iPhone or iPad, you may meet many questions like above. Undoubtedly, iTunes is a free tool to help back up your iPhone text information like text messages, iMessages, and MMS, but you will find it is a little confused to use. Especially when you want to extract text messages from iTunes, you will find no any message category for you to view, let more than access iTunes backup. In this article, we will show you the clear guide about how to restore iPhone text messages and MMS and recover iPad iMessages from iTunes backup.
Back up text messages, MMS and iMessages from iPhone to iTunes
Before you extract iPhone MMS/SMS/iMessages from iTunes backup, iTunes does back up text messages, iMessages and MMS from iPhone to computer or iCloud, even if you cannot view it on your computer. iTunes backup consists of music files that you can access on iTunes Playlist, and some text file that you cannot read or open it, but you can exactly find iTunes backup location on your PC or Mac. Follow the simple steps to back up your iPhone, iPad or iPod.
Step 1 Launch iTunes on your PC. Plug iPhone to PC with USB cable. Wait seconds for iTunes's detecting your iPhone.
Step 2 Find your iPhone icon (next to the ellipsis on the left top side), click it to view all your iPhone data type. Choose "This computer" from the drop-down list of "Backups", click "Back Up Now" to back up your iPhone text messages, MMS and iMessages to iTunes on this computer.
1. For iPhone X/8/7/SE/6s Plus/6s/6 Plus/6/5s/5c/5/4S/4/3GS, iTunes only back up text messages, MMS, and iMessages. For iPad Pro, iPad mini/mini 2/mini 3/mini 4/Air/Air 2, and iPod, iTunes helps to back up iMessages.
2. Whether you want to back up iPhone, or extract data from iTunes backup, you must make sure you download and install the latest iTunes version on your PC or Mac.
3. When you use iTunes to back up iPhone, you will find you have synced other iPhone data (music, photos, apps, books, contacts, calendars, Safari history/bookmarks, etc.) to this computer, apart from MMS/SMS/iMessages.
Restore MMS/SMS/iMessages from iTunes backup
If you are reading this part, you are likely to be eager to know how to extract your lost or deleted iPhone MMS/SMS/iMessage from iTunes backup. No worries, we share you two ways to recover deleted iPhone text messages and MMS and extract iPad or iPod iMessages from iTunes backup.
Method one: How to recover text messages/MMS/iMessages from iTunes
Since you could made iPhone/iPad/iPod MMS/SMS/iMessages backup to iTunes, you are also allowed to restore your iOS device from iTunes.
Step 1 Connect iPhone to PC while launch iTunes on your PC. Find your iPhone icon on iTunes.
Step 2 Click your iPhone icon > "Restore Backup" from "Manually Back Up and Restore" to restore text messages/MMS/iMessages to your PC.
This method is free to let you restore your deleted text messages/MMS/iMessages from iTunes backup to iPhone, but you cannot find a way to view them before you do it. And it also lets you recover deleted notes from iPhone, restore lost iPhone contacts, and retrieve iPhone music from iTunes at one time forcibly, not optionally.
Method two: How to view and extract MMS/SMS/iMessages from iTunes
If you want to restore text messages or MMS optionally from iTunes backup, or get a view of iMessages before you restore iPhone messages from iTunes, iTunes Messages Extractor will do you a great favor. Free download this software to your PC or Mac where you made iTunes backup exactly. And then install and launch this app.
Step 1 Scan iTunes backup
Select "Recover from iTunes Backup File" mode from the main interface of the program. Find your iPhone backup. Hit the "Start Scan" button and wait seconds for this program to scan your iTunes backup on your computer. Here you could recover deleted SMS from iPhone by choosing the first recovery mode.
Step 2View and restore MMS/SMS/iMessages
When the scan completes, you will see all your file type appear in the left side of the interface. The file is categorized in details. Click "Messages" or "Messages Attachments" to read the details. Select single or multiple messages, click the "Recover" button to extract the messages from iTunes backup to your PC as CSV/HTML.
These two methods of restoring SMS/MMS/iMessages from iTunes backup are different. You can take a free try for choosing the better way for yourself.
Surely, if your computer is crashed and iTunes backup files are gone, you can restore messages from iCloud.
