How do I get back deleted messages on my Android phone? Lost an important conversation

@paul021 Which Messages app were you using, Samsung Messages or Google Messages? And have you checked whether the deleted conversation is still in Trash/Recycle Bin (if your app has one)?

I’m sorry, but why can’t you just ask the person to resend the important messages again? It’s not my place to ask, but I'm sure most people would understand. Stuff gets deleted by accident all the time.

@phillyjohn It’s Google Messages. I checked around the app but couldn’t find a Trash/Recycle Bin anywhere. I also looked through Archived just in case I somehow put the convo there instead of deleting it, but nope, nothing.

@chris_89 I actually did, but they haven’t replied yet, and I don’t really have another way to contact them. That was my first thought too 😅 I’m just trying to figure out if there’s anything I can do on my end in case they never get back to me.

Welcome, @paul021! Nothing is wrong with your topic, we’re always happy to help. As for the deleted conversation, there are a couple of places worth checking. First is obviously Trash/Archived in whichever Messages app you were using. That’s by far the easiest outcome if the conversation is still there. Samsung also has an official guide that covers both Samsung Messages and Google Messages, as well as the available backup options.

@paul021 Tap your Google account profile picture in the top-right corner of Google Messages, then scroll down a bit and select Trash. Deleted conversations should show up there if they haven’t been permanently removed yet. If you see the one you need, select it and restore it.

One limitation though: as far as I’m aware, this only works if you deleted the whole conversation. If you deleted individual messages from inside a chat, I don’t think they get moved to Trash, so you won’t be able to restore them this way.

@phillyjohn thanks for the instruction! @paul021 if that didn’t work, check your backups. On a Galaxy, there are a few possibilities:

Google backup: Go to Settings > Google > Backup and see whether your messages were included in a backup made before you deleted the conversation. The catch is that Google normally restores this data during the initial setup of a new/reset phone, so don’t factory-reset your S25 just to test this unless you’ve confirmed that a suitable backup actually exists.

Samsung Cloud: Go to Settings > Accounts and backup > Restore data and check what Samsung has available for your device. This is especially relevant if you were using Samsung Messages.

Smart Switch: If you previously backed the phone up to a PC/Mac or another Galaxy through Smart Switch, check that backup too.

Thanks @DataRecoverExpert and @phillyjohn I checked Trash and unfortunately the conversation isn’t there. Archived is empty too, so looks like I actually deleted it.

I also checked the backup stuff. Google backup is turned on, but it shows a backup from after I deleted the convo, so I’m guessing that’s no help? Nothing useful under Samsung Cloud either, and I’ve never used Smart Switch for backups.

Well… I was really hoping this would be one of those “download an app, press Recover, problem solved” situations 😂 Guess, not…

@paul021

If there’s no usable backup, recovery gets much harder on modern Android phones because deleted data on encrypted flash storage may no longer be recoverable. I would not root your S25 now just to run a recovery app. Rooting after the deletion doesn’t magically make the old messages recoverable and the changes required to gain root access can actually work against you.

If the phone was already rooted before the messages were deleted, some Android recovery tools may be able to inspect internal app databases, but even then there’s no guarantee that the deleted records still exist. We tested and compared several Android recovery options here if you get to that point: https://ratings.7datarecovery.com/android-data-recovery/

@DataRecoverExpert Oh… My phone is already rooted. I did it a while ago because I needed root access for a couple of work-related apps/tools, so at least I don’t have to mess with that now. I’ve been looking at Android recovery apps, though, and there are sooo many of them all claiming they can recover deleted messages. Not really sure which one is actually worth trying and which one is just gonna waste my time/money.

@paul021 If you have a Mac, I’d probably suggest Disk Drill. I tried a couple of other Android recovery apps, but some wanted me to pay before I could really tell whether they had found anything useful. With Disk Drill, I could scan the phone and check the results first, which made a lot more sense to me. 

Basically, install Disk Drill on the Mac, enable USB debugging on the phone, connect it with a cable, and it should appear under Android Devices. From there you can scan the phone and see what it can still find. Since yours was already rooted before you deleted the messages, you’re at least in a better position to try it.

Just don’t get your hopes too high lol. Even with root, deleted Android data can disappear pretty fast, so finding the messages isn’t guaranteed.

There’s a walkthrough here that shows the Android + Mac setup with Disk Drill: https://help.7datarecovery.com/sd-card-data-recovery-android/

Also, don’t install a bunch of “message recovery” apps directly on the S25 while you test different options. Every new app writes more data to the same internal storage you’re trying to recover from. I’d stick to the Mac if you can.

@paul021

People already covered most options here, so I just add one more that people often forget: check with your mobile carrier.

It honestly depends on your carrier and what services you have enabled. There may be a messaging/sync service or account history worth checking. I wouldn’t expect the carrier to simply hand you the contents of deleted SMS messages, but it’s worth logging into your account and checking any messaging or backup features before you write the conversation off completely.

Also, you’re right to be suspicious of that Google backup created after the deletion. I definitely wouldn’t factory-reset the S25 just to restore it and hope the conversation magically comes back. A newer backup may already reflect the phone’s state after the conversation was removed.

Since your phone was rooted before this happened, the recovery-software route mentioned by @datanerd is at least worth testing.

Quote from nikaredko on October 1, 2026, 8:30 am

@paul021

People already covered most options here, so I just add one more that people often forget: check with your mobile carrier.

It honestly depends on your carrier and what services you have enabled. There may be a messaging/sync service or account history worth checking. I wouldn’t expect the carrier to simply hand you the contents of deleted SMS messages, but it’s worth logging into your account and checking any messaging or backup features before you write the conversation off completely.

Also, you’re right to be suspicious of that Google backup created after the deletion. I definitely wouldn’t factory-reset the S25 just to restore it and hope the conversation magically comes back. A newer backup may already reflect the phone’s state after the conversation was removed.

Since your phone was rooted before this happened, the recovery-software route mentioned by @datanerd is at least worth testing.

I’ll check, but I doubt I have enabled anything like that.

Okay, update because I hate when I find an old forum thread with my exact problem and the OP just disappears forever 😂

I tried the carrier thing first and, as expected, nothing useful there. So I borrowed my brother’s Mac and tried Disk Drill like @#3 suggested. Getting the phone connected took me a few mins because I forgot about USB debugging, but after that it actually detected the S25 and let me scan it.

And somehow... it found the messages 😭 Not everything that had ever been deleted from the phone or anything crazy like that, but the conversation I needed was there and I was able to get the important texts back.

Seriously, thanks everyone. I was 99% convinced I was screwed after Trash and the backups came up empty.