Lost some important text messages? Don’t worry - if you have an iOS backup on your computer, you can recover them easily.
Here’s a quick guide on extracting SMS and iMessages from your iOS backup.
Step 1 Download the free tool: 👉 SmoothScan
Step 2 Find your backup folder by selecting the backup and clicking “Reveal in Finder”. Note the long string ID - this identifies your specific device backup.
Step 3 Launch the tool and select your backup folder to begin analysis. The SMS database is stored at “Library/SMS/sms.db” in the “HomeDomain” domain.
Step 4 Once scanning completes, look for the “SMS/iMessage” section. This contains all your text message data including attachments stored in the SQLite database tables.
Step 5 Review the messages to find what you need, then use “Extract All” to save them. The extraction time depends on how many messages you have.
