How to Backup and Restore iMessages on iPhone/iPad Easily

iMessage, Apple's built-in messaging service, allows you to send texts, emojis, photos, audio files, videos, documents, and even locations to friends and family. Sometimes, it becomes essential to back up iMessages on your iPhone.

• Protecting important iMessages from being lost: Without a backup, accidental deletion or other issues could erase those precious memories. To safeguard all your memories, it's wise to back up iMessages on your iPhone.
• Freeing up storage space on your iPhone: Since iMessages are stored on the device, limited storage means you eventually need to delete some messages. To avoid losing crucial information, backing up iMessages is necessary.

iMessages hold various valuable data, making it important to know how to backup and restore imessageson your iPhone and iPad. Having a backup enables you to swiftly recover your messages whenever needed.

How to Backup and Restore iMessages on iPhone/iPad - 3 Ways

There are three easy ways to backup iMessagesand restore iMessages from backup on iPhone. After reviewing these ways, you can choose the one that best suits your needs.

Way 1. Backup and Restore iMessages via AOMEI FoneBackup

When you wish to backup and restore iMessages, one of the easiest ways is to use a safe and professional iPhone backup and restore tool such asAOMEI FoneBackup. With this tool, you can easily back up iMessages to a computer, external hard drive, or USB flash drive, and then restore chosen iMessages to your device without data loss.

Highlights of Using AOMEI FoneBackup to Backup and Restore iMessages:
Offline Backup and Restore: AOMEI FoneBackup allows you to perform backups and restores of your iMessages without the need for an Internet connection. This ensures that your data remains secure and private.
Selective Backup and Restore: You can select specific iMessages or chats to back up or recover, allowing you to manage your messages flexibly.
Preview Before Restore: AOMEI FoneBackup lets you preview your iMessages before restoring them, helping you to validate the content and ensure that the right messages are restored.
Encrypted Backup: AOMEI FoneBackup provides encrypted backups, adding an extra layer of security to your iMessage data.

So, how to back up iMessage with AOMEI FoneBackup? You can click the download button below to get it and try it by yourself.

Part 1. How to backup iMessages to computer

Step 1. Launch AOMEI FoneBackup > Connect your iPhone to your computer via USB cable > On the home interface, click the Selective Backup option > Click the Messages icon.

Step 2. Select the iMessages you want to backup > Click OK.

Step 3. Click Backup Storage Path to choose a storage path to save your iMessages > Click Start Backup.

Part 2. How to restore iMessages from backup

You can check the backup task on the Backup History interface, from there you can view the backup files, restore the backup files, or delete the backup files.

Step 1. To restore iMessages from backup, you can click the Restore button and select the iMessages you need.

Step 2. If you want to transfer the iMessages to another iPhone or iPad, please connect the device to computer and perform the restoration to achieve the transfer.

With only a few clicks, your iMessages will be backed up to the right place. You can also choose to backup photos, videos, music, and contacts. Besides backup and restore, AOMEI FoneBackup also allows you to transfer messages to new iPhone, and transfer photos, videos, songs, and contacts between iPhone and computer, between iPhone and another iPhone/iPad.

Way 2. Backup and Restore iMessages with iTunes

You can also choose to backup and restore iMessages using iTunes. Like iCloud backup, iTunes will backup all iPhone data and only lets you restore everything. But there are still advantages compared to iCloud, computers generally have a lot of storage space, so you don't have to pay extra to get enough space.

Part 1. How to backup iMessages to iTunes

Step 1. Download and install the latest version of iTunes on computer > Connect iPhone to computer and trust the computer.

Step 2. Click the Device tab > Go to Summary > Choose This Computer > Click Back Up Now to start the backup.

Part 2. How to restore iMessages from iTunes backup

Step 1. Plug in your iPhone and run iTunes > Click the Device tab > Go to Summary.

Step 2. Choose Restore Backup... option and choose a backup to restore.

Way 3. Backup and Restore iMessages Using iCloud

If you do not have a computer at hand, then you can choose to backup iMessages to iCloud. It provides two iMessages backup and restore methods: only backup iMessages and text messages to cloud server or backup all iPhone content including iMessages.

The free iCloud storage space is limited (5 GB). If you need to back up a lot of iMessages, you may need to pay for more iCloud storage.

Part 1. How to backup iMessages to iCloud

In iOS 12 and later, you can turn on Messages in iCloud to upload all text messages and iMessages to iCloud server to achieve the backup.

>> Go to Settings > your name > iCloud to find Messages and toggle it on. When your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi, it will automatically sync iMessages to iCloud.

You can apply this way to transfer messages to new iPhone. The uploaded messages can be viewed on any device using the same Apple ID if the Messages in iCloud is enabled. However, please note that if you delete a message on one device, it will be deleted on every device.

In addition, you can choose to create a backup package to backup all content and settings including the iMessage.

>> Connect iPhone to Wi-Fi > Go to Settings > your Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Backup and toggle it on. Then tap Back Up Now to make a backup immediately.

Part 2. How to restore iMessages from iCloud backup

If you want to restore iMessages from iCloud backup, you should first erase the iPhone and then choose to restore from the backup. You will lose all existing data on iPhone so please backup your iPhone in advance.

Step 1. Erase iPhone: Go to Settings > General > Reset (Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset in iOS 15 and later) and choose Erase All Content and Settings option > Enter your passcode to confirm.

Step 2. Set up your iPhone until you access the data transfer screen > Choose Restore from iCloud Backup > Select the correct backup to make it.

Final Words

That’s all about how to backup and restore iMessages on iPhone/iPad. There are 3 easy ways for you to choose from. If you prefer to backup selected iMessages to a computer/external drive/USB, then AOMEI FoneBackup is the best choice. With this tool, you can also make a full iPhone backup(including your messages, contacts, and more). Why not give it a try? Download and use AOMEI FoneBackup right now!