Can’t search for old texts in messages after iPhone update or restore? This tutorial will show you a workaround.
As gathered from several sources, some iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch users find it difficult to search/access old texts after an update/restore. Typically, only texts that came in or are sent after the update/restore are displayed in Messages.
However, you need not worry much; your old texts are safe, and we’ll be showing you how to access them in this tutorial.
Fix: Can’t Search for Old Texts in Messages After iPhone Update or Restore
Basically, when this happens, the update/restore has somehow reconfigured your device’s search index, such that only recent text messages comes up.
Therefore, to bring up old texts in search results, you’d have to reconfigure the search index or reverse the changes made to it. To do this, try the methods outlined below.
Method 1: Enable Search & Siri Suggestions
Follow these steps to do that:
- Open Settings and select Siri & Search.
- Go to Messages; locate and disable Search & Siri Suggestions.
- Restart device.
- Go back and re-enable Search & Siri Suggestions.
After few seconds, check the Messages app and see if old texts now come up fine.
Method 2: Change Device’s Language
Old texts still not coming up? try this:
- Navigate to Settings and select General.
- Tap on Language & Region and change it to a different option.
- Go back to Settings and select Siri & Search.
- Tap on Language and set to the newly selected language.
- Exit Settings and reopen it.
- Reverse the previous changes under Language & Region and Siri & Search.
Old texts still not coming up? Try the next fix.
Method 3: Send a new text to an old recipient
This is a simple trick. By sending a new text message to an old recipient, all previous texts (or conversation/thread) to/from that person should now come up fine in search results.
Method 4: Re-enable iMessage
To do this:
- Tap on Settings
- Select Messages
- Locate iMessage and disable it, and then re-enable after 20 – 30 seconds.
Check if this resolves the issue.
Ultimately, if the issue persists, you can back up your device’s files/data (to iCloud), reset phone, and then restore data/files from backup storage (iCloud). With this, old texts should now come up fine.
Daniel Segun is a technology writer with over 5 years of experience. He loves to teach and inspire others. When he is not writing, he’s probably busy developing websites. You can reach him here.
