How to Recover Deleted Voicemail: iPhone Tips and Tricks
There are few things more annoying than mistakenly erasing a voicemail, especially if it contains important info like a job offer, medical appointment details, or messages from family. The good news is that you can retrieve deleted voicemail from an iPhone in many cases. Sometimes, all it takes is a few simple taps, while other scenarios involve more complex recovery processes to retrieve lost data.
How iPhone’s Visual Voicemail Works
With Apple’s Visual Voicemail feature, you can manage your voicemail without even calling a phone number. Instead, your wireless carrier stores any messages you receive, and your iPhone automatically downloads them. Then, you can play, save, and delete messages within Apple’s Phone app.
But what happens to accidentally deleted messages? Thankfully, they don’t simply vanish instantly, as there’s a built-in grace period before they’re permanently deleted. Depending on the circumstances surrounding your messages, the process of getting them back could be quick and easy, or it could require a few extra steps.
How to Retrieve Deleted Voicemail from the Deleted Messages Folder
The first (and simplest) option is recovering voicemail from your iPhone’s Deleted Messages section. Follow the following steps to give this method a try.
- Open the Phone app and tap Voicemail in the bottom right corner.
- Scroll down and tap “Deleted Messages.”
- View the recently deleted voicemail queue and find the one you want to recover.
- Tap “Undelete” to transfer the message back to your main voicemail tab.
Hopefully, this method works, and you’ll be able to restore your important messages. If it doesn’t, you might need to use a little more legwork to get them back.
Recovering Voicemail from an iCloud Backup File
If you can’t find your desired voicemail, you might still be able to recover it if you regularly backup your iPhone. However, you’ll need to exercise caution if you use this route, as it will wipe your current data from the device. After backing up your iPhone, you can try this method using these step-by-step instructions:
- From the Settings app, tap “General,” then “Transfer or Reset iPhone.” From there, tap “Erase All Content and Settings.”
- Once your iPhone erases your data, follow the on-screen instructions until you get to the “Apps & Data” step.
- Select “Restore from iCloud backup.”
- Sign into your iCloud account and select a backup file from before you originally deleted the voicemail.
Again, keep in mind that restoring a previous backup will wipe your current data from your iPhone. This means that you could lose any recent messages, application data, photos, videos, and other files from after the restored backup date.
How to Restore Voicemails Using Finder or iTunes
This route is highly similar to the previous method, as it’s another way to replace your iPhone’s data with “lost” data from a backup file. It’s a bit more of a hassle than using iCloud because you’ll need to hook your phone up to a computer, but it’s still often an effective method.
If you have an older iPhone using macOS Mojave or a previous version, try this option:
- Plug your iPhone into a computer and open the iTunes app.
- Select your device from the pop-up menu.
- Click “Restore Backup” and choose a file created before you deleted your selected voicemail.
If you have a newer iPhone that runs on macOS Catalina or a later iOS version, you can use this route:
- Hook up your iPhone to your computer and open the Finder app.
- Choose your device.
- Select “Restore Backup.” Again, make sure the file you choose was created before your message was deleted.
Like the previous option, these processes wipe your existing data and replace it with data from a backed-up version of your phone’s memory. So, if you try them, back up any important files first.
Using Third-Party Data Recovery Apps to Recover Deleted Voicemails
If the previous methods don’t work, you still have a couple of options. The best option here is the free Google Takeout, a convenient app that allows users to export data from their devices to downloadable archive files. While Google Takeout is an effective method for data recovery, including deleted messages, you need to have already backed up your device’s data to the Takeout app. Unfortunately, many iPhone users don’t use Google Takeout.
There are also several other third-party data recovery apps that can retrieve deleted voicemail, but they can be expensive to use and often don’t have great customer feedback. For example, if you do a Google search, you can find options like Dr. Fone that promise to “quickly recover your recently deleted photos, messages, videos, files, contacts, and audio with just one click.”
However, these apps often have hefty price tags, as Dr. Fone costs $69.95 for one-off data recovery access. Furthermore, customer reviews are mixed at best, as Dr. Fone has a mediocre 3.0 out of 5 rating on the Apple App Store with 400+ ratings.
Backup Files and ecoATM: How to Prepare Your iPhone for Sale
It’s a great idea to create frequent backup files for your device for deleted voicemail recovery, but that’s not the only reason you should have your data backed up. For example, if you want to upgrade your iPhone and sell your old one at an ecoATM kiosk, you’ll want to back up your personal data (including voicemail) first.
Once you recycle your phone with ecoATM, you can’t retrieve deleted voicemails or other content without a backup file on the cloud or on another device. Regularly backing up your phone’s data helps make sure you don’t lose important messages or files for good when it’s time to upgrade to a new device.
Furthermore, ecoATM and other reputable resellers require you to restore your iPhone to factory settings before selling it. If you have any photos, apps, or other data on your device that you want to keep, you’ll need to create a backup file before you sell your iPhone.
For more information on selling used iPhones to ecoATM, check out the pricing tool on our website or visit your nearest kiosk today. With over 6,000 ecoATM kiosks located across the country, it’s easy to find the one nearest you and swap your old iPhone for quick cash today!
