Delete a conversation Note: Deleted messages remain in your Recently Deleted folder for up to 30 days, and you can recover them.
However, just because you erase texts on Apple and Android products doesn't mean they're gone for good, according to an expert on the Apple Support Community and Business Insider. They will be hidden, but they may still be saved in system data or elsewhere with your cellphone carrier.
Tap the triple-dot menu icon, visible in the upper-right corner of the messages screen. Select the trash bin icon. Choose the conversation you want to recover and select “Restore.”
Go to Settings > Accounts and backup > Backup and restore. Under your Google account, tap Google Account to check if there is a Google Drive backup created before the messages were deleted. If there is an available backup, you may restore the backup and get the deleted messages back.
You can restore messages you deleted for up to 30 days. In the Messages conversation list, do one of the following: Tap Edit in the top-left corner, then tap Show Recently Deleted. Tap Filters in the top-left corner, then tap Recently Deleted.
If you use Messages as your default messaging app, deleted conversations will also be deleted from your device. If you delete a conversation or message, it cannot be recovered. This action is permanent.
Delete conversation—Permanently deletes your copy of a conversation's history. It doesn't delete the conversation from other participants' history.
Please Note: Clearing a conversation will not delete any saved or sent content.
The Android operating system stores text messages in the phone's memory, so if they're deleted, there's no way to retrieve them. You can, however, install a text message backup application from the Android market that allows you to restore any deleted text messages.
You can only recover messages and conversations that you deleted within the last 30 to 40 days.
Deleted text messages are truly GONE. Nobody can access them. Unless you have a program installed that archives/backs up messages. In that case, deleting them from your phone won't delete them from the backup.
Deleting the WhatsApp messages means deleting them entirely from the WhatsApp log book. On the other hand, Clear WhatsApp chats mean you are clearing them from your WhatsApp board only. You can restore the backup messages when you log in to the new device, provided that you have only cleared them and not deleted them.
Deleting Messages does not free up storage
Delete entire message discussions. If you could delete the Messages app it would clear the lot but you cannot.
In truth, when you delete something from your phone, it doesn't vanish instantly. The flash memory in mobile devices doesn't delete files until it needs to open up space for something new. It merely "deindexes" it, essentially forgetting where it is. It's still stored, but the phone doesn't know where or what it is.
Delete a conversation
To permanently remove a message, tap Edit (or Filters) in the top-left corner, tap Show Recently Deleted (or Recently Deleted), select the messages or conversations you want to remove, tap Delete, then follow the onscreen instructions.
1. Retrieve Deleted Text Messages With iPhone Data Recovery Tool. The easiest and most effective wayto restore deleted messages on an iPhone is to use a professional iOS datarecovery tool iFindit. It can help you retrieve deleted messages directly fromany of your iOS devices without iTunes or iCloud backup.
Recover Messages and Photos via Google Backup
If you previously activated Google Drive backup on your Android smartphone, there may be possible that backup may contain your deleted text messages and photos.
Even if you remove a text message from your phone, it may not be gone. That's because it could be stored on your phone company's servers. Normal text messages go from your phone to your phone company to the recipient. In most cases, that means the phone company retains a copy of messages.
Even if someone deletes text messages, memos, calendar updates and call records, a private investigator may be able to recover this information. This level of detail can inform someone of who the person has had contact with, at what time and date the contact occurred and the content of the contact.