Check out these 9 expert tips to streamline your iPhone message searches and make finding important conversations effortless.
Your iPhone can practically store an unlimited amount of messages as long as you have sufficient storage space on the device.
Every now and then, you might need to locate and scroll to an old message from a few years ago. These tips will help you quickly find that message.
Use the search bar
The search bar inside the Apple Messages app lets you find texts by entering a few search terms.
- Open the Messages app on your iPhone or iPad and you’ll see a search bar at the top of the screen. If you don’t see it, swipe down a bit on the conversations screen to reveal it.
- Now, type one or two words of the text message you’re looking for, and you should see it in the search results.
Tip: You can also swipe down on the iOS Home Screen to open Spotlight Search and use the search box there to find the text you’re looking for.
Use search filters
You can supercharge the Messages app search feature by using filters. This way, you’re not limited to relying solely on a word or phrase in the search box but can combine multiple factors to find the right text quickly. For example, if I want to find all messages with links to croissant shops sent by my friend, I can use these search filters to locate the message quickly.
Show messages from all lines or a specific line
I use two SIM cards on my iPhone. One is my main number, and the other is for sensitive stuff like bank messages.
When I want to find a particular text from my bank, I set the Messages app to only show the SMS messages from that second line. This makes it easier to scroll and manually look for the desired message.
You can see texts from just one line by tapping the three dots menu icon and choosing that line. Alternatively, tap All Lines to see all your messages.
Check message filter categories
If you’ve chosen to filter the messages on your iPhone, the Messages app will create smart categories to separate your texts. These categories are All Messages, Known Senders, Unknown Senders, Unread Messages, All Transactions, Finance, Orders, Reminders, Promotions, and Junk.
If you have a ton of messages, going to these specific categories might help you find the relevant text faster. To do this, just open the Messages app and select Filters from the top left.
Scroll down a conversation for old messages to load
Imagine you’re trying to find a message from someone with whom you’ve exchanged thousands of texts. The Messages app may not have loaded all of them.
To find a really old text, open the conversation and scroll down to load older messages from the iCloud servers. Once fetched, they’ll appear on the screen and in search results.
Make sure the iCloud Messages feature is turned on
iCloud can save your SMS texts and iMessages and make them available across all your devices. This also means if you get a new iPhone and don’t restore your previous device backup, you still have all the messages on your new device!
This amazing feature ensures I have years-old texts on my iPhone 16, even though I have switched iPhones multiple times.
You won’t be able to find very old text messages if iCloud Messages is not enabled on your iPhone. So, go to the Settings app > your Apple Account name > iCloud > Messages and turn on Use on this iPhone.
Look in the deleted messages section
If you accidentally deleted a message and want to recover it, you can scroll through all your recently deleted texts and recover the message you want to reference.
Restore a previous backup on your iPhone
If you don’t use Messages in iCloud but back up your iPhone to iCloud or a computer, restoring that old backup may help recover those texts.
Don’t bother with this method if you already use Messages in iCloud, as your texts are not uploaded to your device backups this way.
Check your screenshots or other devices
Lastly, if none of the above tips have worked, you can try the following:
- Review your iPhone screenshots: You may have taken a screenshot of an important text before deleting it on purpose or removing it accidentally. However, that text screenshot may still exist in your Photos app. So, check that.
- Check your other phone: Did you temporarily use your SIM card on another iPhone or Android phone? In that case, the texts you received during that time will be on these devices. So, check their Messages app.
- See your offline iPad or Mac: As a last resort, you can use the search option in the Messages app on your iPad and Mac, and hopefully, it will show a relevant result. If you have to find a really old text and have a device that’s not connected to the Internet in a while, power it on, keep it disconnected from the Internet, and scour through its Messages app.
On a related note: 65+ tips and tricks for the Messages app on iPhone and iPad