How to Find Hidden Text Messages on an iPhone

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Reveal hidden conversations from unknown contacts

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: December 12, 2025 Tested

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Unknown Sender Messages

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Recently Deleted Messages

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Recovering Messages from Backup

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Messages from Hidden Notifications

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Secret Messaging Apps

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Video

Whether you're checking somebody else's iPhone for evidence of secret messages or just trying to find filtered messages on your own iPhone, there are a few simple ways to find hidden messages. This wikiHow guide will teach you how to find hidden messages on your iPhone. And if you can't find the hidden messages on your iPhone, we'll also show you how to restore them from a backup.

How do I find hidden text messages on my iPhone?

To find hidden messages sent from people who aren't contacts, tap the filter icon at the top of Messages, then tap "Unknown Senders." In the same menu, you can also tap "Recently Deleted" to find deleted texts for up to 30 days after deletion. Older deleted messages can be restored from an iCloud backup.

Method 1

Method 1 of 5:

Viewing Hidden Messages from Unknown Senders

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If this iPhone is set up to filter messages from unknown senders, those messages are hidden in a secret folder called "Unknown Senders." You can find this folder in the Messages app.^{[1]
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Tap the Filters icon. It's a set of 3 horizontal lines at the top-right corner of your inbox. In older versions of iOS, tap Filters at the top-left corner instead.

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Tap Unknown Senders. This displays all text messages coming from phone numbers that aren't added as contacts.
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Prevent a sender's messages from being hidden by Messages. If you find a text message in Unknown Senders that shouldn't be there, you can mark the sender as "known." Here's how:^{[2]
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- Tap a message from the person whose messages you don't want to hide.
- At the bottom-right, tap Mark as Known.
- Tap Add to add the number to your contacts.
- If the contact is new, tap Create New Contact and add their name and other contact details.
- If you already have this person in your contacts with a different phone number, tap Add to Existing Contact and select their contact card.
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Restore hidden messages to the regular inbox (optional). Filtering unknown senders can prevent you from receiving important texts from services sending you confirmation numbers, delivery services, and even reminders for medical appointments. If you want to make sure you're getting these texts, it's best to turn off this filtering. Here's how:
- To turn off Unknown Sender filtering from the current folder, tap the filter icon at the top-right, select Manage Filtering, then toggle off the "Screen Unknown Senders" switch.
- To turn off Unknown Sender filtering from anywhere:
  - Open your iPhone's Settings (that gray gear icon on your home screen or in your App Library).
  - Scroll down to the bottom and tap Apps.
  - Scroll down and tap Messages.
  - Toggle off the "Screen Unknown Senders" switch.

Method 2

Method 2 of 5:

Viewing Recently Deleted Messages

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1
Open the Messages app. If you're looking for texts somebody else is hiding on their phone, or if you want to recover texts you've accidentally deleted, you may find them in the Recently Deleted folder. Deleted texts remain in this folder for 30 days after deletion. During this time, you can force-delete them, but if you haven't, they should still be there.^{[3]
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Tap the Filters icon. It's a set of 3 horizontal lines at the top-right corner of your inbox. In older versions of iOS, tap Filters at the top-left corner instead.
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Tap Recently Deleted. This displays a list of messages deleted in the past 30 days.
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Select one or more messages and tap Recover. This restores the deleted messages to your inbox so you can read them.^{[4]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 5:

Recovering Deleted Messages from Backups

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1
Make sure your messages are backed up to iCloud. If you deleted a text and want to get it back, you can do so by restoring from an iCloud backup. First, check to make sure your messages are actually being backed up to iCloud:^{[5]
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- Open your iPhone's Settings (the gray gear icon on your home screen or in your App Library).
- Tap your name at the top to open your Apple ID details.
- Tap iCloud.
- Tap Messages.
- If "Use on this phone" is turned on, you can use this method to restore deleted texts. If not, there won't be any deleted texts to restore.
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Open your iPhone's Settings
. If you just checked to see if you're backing up messages, just tap the back button until you've returned to the Settings menu. Otherwise, tap the gray gear icon on your home screen or in your App Library now.
- This method will erase and restore your iPhone. This sounds extreme, but as long as you back up your data to iCloud, all your data (including the text messages you had in your inbox at the time of the backup) will be placed back onto your iPhone automatically.
- Apps that claim to restore deleted texts can only pull them from backups.
This is the option with a gray-and-white gear icon in the third group of settings.^{[6]
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Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone. Another menu will expand.^{[7]
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Tap Erase All Content and Settings. You will be prompted to enter your passcode or Apple account password now.^{[8]
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- Most of your settings will be restored from your backup, although you'll need to log back in to many apps and services.
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Confirm that you want to erase and reset your iPhone. Review the items that will be deleted and tap Continue to proceed.
- If you have an eSIM, tap eSIM, and make sure it is NOT set to erase. If you erase the eSIM, you will need to reactivate your SIM.^{[9]
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- Do not choose the option to back it up first—this will overwrite the existing backup, which would mean you'd permanently lose your deleted texts.
- When the reset is complete, you'll be prompted to set up your iPhone like new.
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Select From from iCloud Backup on the Transfer Your Apps & Data screen. After completing a few initial steps, you will see this screen. Once selected, you will be prompted to sign in to iCloud and select a backup.^{[10]
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Select a backup. Choose a backup date from before you deleted the messages you want to restore. Once selected, the restore will begin.^{[11]
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- If you see a message that says you need a new version of the software, follow the on-screen prompts to complete the update.
- If you restore from an old backup, it will undo any of the changes you've made to your iPhone after that date. This means you'll need to re-download apps you've downloaded after the backup was created.
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Open the Messages app to find your deleted messages. As long as the messages you deleted were still on your iPhone when the backup was made, you'll find them in the Messages app, merged in with your other messages.
- If you were unable to restore your deleted messages this way, you may be able to contact your mobile carrier to request them.

Method 4

Method 4 of 5:

Finding Messages from Notifications You Hid

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1
Open the Messages app on your iPhone. If you received a text message and accidentally swiped away the notification, you will find the messages at the top of your Messages inbox. Any messages you haven't opened yet will have a blue dot to the left of the sender's name.
- If you tapped the notification to read the message previously, you won't see a blue dot on the message.

Method 5

Method 5 of 5:

Finding Secret Messaging Apps

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Messages can be hidden in apps other than the Messages app. If you're worried somebody is hiding text messages to keep secrets from you, look at the app list for other text messaging apps, including WhatsApp, LINE, Signal, Facebook Messenger, Discord, and Telegram. These apps are also used for messaging, and messages exchanged on these apps will not appear in the iPhone Messages app.
- You can also find messages in apps that aren't specifically for messaging, including Instagram, and in games that have chat features.