How to Recover Deleted Messages on iPhone

This article explains how to retrieve and permanently delete voicemail on an iPhone. Instructions apply to iPhones running iOS 10 and later.

How to Recover Deleted Voicemail on iPhone

If you’ve deleted a voicemail and want it back, follow these steps:

1. Tap the Phone app to open it.

2. Tap Voicemail in the bottom right corner.

3. Tap Deleted Messages at the bottom of your voicemail queue to view voicemails you’ve deleted, but that are still on your phone.

   If there aren’t any retrievable voicemails, you won’t see a Deleted Messages option.

4. Tap the voicemail you want to recover.

5. Tap Undelete beneath the selected voicemail.

6. Tap Voicemail in the top left corner to return to the main Visual Voicemail screen. The voicemail you just retrieved will be there waiting for you.

When You Can’t Recover Voicemail on iPhone

While recovering voicemails on an iPhone is simple, there are cases where you can’t save old voicemails.

The Deleted Messages section in the Phone app acts like a trash or recycle bin on a computer: files stay until emptied.

Although there’s no “empty” button on the iPhone, the deleted voicemails are cleared from memory when you sync your iPhone with your computer.

They can also be permanently deleted (see the next section), and your phone company may automatically clear deleted messages periodically.

As long as you haven’t synced your phone since deleting a voicemail, you should be able to recover it. If a voicemail isn’t in the Deleted Messages section, it’s likely gone for good.

How to Permanently Delete iPhone Voicemails

To clear deleted voicemails permanently and immediately, follow these steps:

1. Tap the Phone app.

2. Tap Voicemail.

3. Select Deleted Messages.

4. Choose Clear All in the top right corner.

5. Tap Clear All in the pop-up confirmation screen.

6. Your Deleted Voicemails folder is now empty, and items it contained cannot be recovered.