{"id":2033,"date":"2021-06-29T20:29:11","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T20:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/?p=2033"},"modified":"2023-09-27T16:32:05","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T16:32:05","slug":"old-messages-showing-up-iphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/old-messages-showing-up-iphone\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Are Old Messages Showing Up On My iPhone?"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>img#mv-trellis-img-1::before{padding-top:100%; }img#mv-trellis-img-1{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-2::before{padding-top:100%; }img#mv-trellis-img-2{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-3::before{padding-top:100%; }img#mv-trellis-img-3{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-4::before{padding-top:100%; }img#mv-trellis-img-4{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-5::before{padding-top:100%; }img#mv-trellis-img-5{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-6::before{padding-top:100%; }img#mv-trellis-img-6{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-7::before{padding-top:100%; }img#mv-trellis-img-7{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-8::before{padding-top:20.431893687708%; }img#mv-trellis-img-8{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-9::before{padding-top:100%; }img#mv-trellis-img-9{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-10::before{padding-top:100%; }img#mv-trellis-img-10{display:block;}<\/style>\n<p>Your messages on your iPhone and your other Apple devices are generally stored both on the device itself and in iCloud. As a result, your Messages are saved and listed chronologically.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, however, this can go wrong and you may notice things like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Old messages appear with a current date &amp; time stamp<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your iPhone resends old text messages<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your messages are no longer being sorted by the most recent message&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In this post, we look at these issues and how we can fix them.<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"simpletoc-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#old-messages-showing-up-on-my-iphone\">Old messages showing up on my iPhone<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#upgrade-to-the-latest-version-of-ios\">Upgrade to the latest version of iOS<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#restore-data-from-a-backup\">Restore data from a backup<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#messages-appearing-on-old-iphone\">Messages appearing on old iPhone<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#seeing-notifications-for-old-messages-on-macbook\">Seeing notifications for old messages on Macbook<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-search-for-old-messages-on-iphone\">How to search for old messages on iPhone<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-to-automatically-delete-old-messages\">How to automatically delete old messages<\/a>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"old-messages-showing-up-on-my-iphone\">Old messages showing up on my iPhone<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Here&rsquo;s what you can do if you are seeing old messages on your iPhone:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Go to Settings -&gt; General -&gt; Date &amp; Time<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Choose &ldquo;Disable Set Automatically&rdquo;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set the time zone to something different than your current one<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Force quit the Messages app by swiping up from the bottom of the home screen and pressing until the app cards appear.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Find the Messages app and scroll upwards to force quit it.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When you&rsquo;re done, launch the Messages app again.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Go back to your Settings and change Date &amp; Time back to &ldquo;Set automatically&rdquo;.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Your messages should now appear in the right order again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76e4667d.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20300%20300'%3E%3Crect%20width='300'%20height='300'%20style='fill:%23e3e3e3'\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-1\" loading=\"eager\" data-src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76e4667d.jpg.webp\" class=\"eager-load\" data-svg=\"1\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76e877cf.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76e877cf.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-2\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If the above approach doesn&rsquo;t work for you, or your messages are not syncing properly, keep reading.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"upgrade-to-the-latest-version-of-ios\">Upgrade to the latest version of iOS<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>The following approach works well if you&rsquo;re receiving new messages with dates that appear older than they actually are, or if your messages are no longer being sorted properly by date.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem is likely to do with a software update. <strong>Before you delve into complicated workarounds, make sure your iPhone is running the latest iOS upgrade. Installing the latest software upgrade will sometimes solve the issue.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"restore-data-from-a-backup\">Restore data from a backup<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>If updating your software still does not work for you, you may need to restore data from a previous backup.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before doing this, first ensure you have a current backup: go to Settings and tap your name or Apple ID at the top. Go to iCloud to see the list of apps. Go to Backup and hit press &ldquo;Back up Now&rdquo;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76ec1a6e.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76ec1a6e.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-3\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76f02bbb.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76f02bbb.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-4\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Then go back to your Apple ID page and select &ldquo;Find My&rdquo; &gt; disable &ldquo;Find my iPhone&rdquo;. Finally, <a href=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/safe-to-sell-an-iphone-after-factory-reset\/\">reset your iPhone<\/a> by going to Settings -&gt; General and selecting Reset -&gt; &ldquo;Erase All Content and Settings&rdquo;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When this is done, start setting up your iPhone again and select the iCloud backup created in the previous step.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"messages-appearing-on-old-iphone\">Messages appearing on old iPhone<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>If you have a new Android phone and messages from other Apple users (iMessages) are still going to your old iPhone, try the following:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>On your old iPhone, go to Settings -&gt; Messages -&gt; Send &amp; Receive<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At the bottom, you will see your Apple ID. Click on your Apple ID and select Sign Out.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Go back to Settings &gt; select Facetime. Again, tap on your Apple ID and select Sign Out.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Signing out should stop messages from going to your old phone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are receiving messages on your old iPhone after switching to a new iPhone, you need to change the settings on your old iPhone. Make sure you are connected to WiFi or cellular data in order for the changes to sync.&nbsp;Open Settings &gt; Messages and <a href=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/what-happens-if-i-turn-off-imessage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">turn off iMessage<\/a> (toggle off the green slider).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76f42bb9.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76f42bb9.png.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-5\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>See also <a href=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/can-my-iphone-be-cloned-remotely\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Can my iPhone be cloned remotely without me knowing?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your old messages are not showing up on your new Apple device, first check that iCloud is turned on for Messages on your old device(s): go to Settings and click on your Apple ID at the top. Select iCloud &gt; you will see a list of apps for which iCloud is turned or turned off.  Make sure it is turned on for Messages.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you did the above and are having trouble transferring your old messages such as:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The progress bar on your new device displays &ldquo;Downloading Messages from iCloud&rdquo; but nothing is happening<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You have a notification saying &ldquo;Messages have not been fully downloaded, tap Disable and Download Messages&rdquo;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>First try to sign in and back out of your Apple ID a couple of times, then leave it signed out overnight. Sign in again in the morning: it should be working now.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If this didn&rsquo;t work and you also have a Macbook that you use to receive and answer messages, you may have to upgrade it to the latest operating system: click on the Apple logo in the top left corner of your Macbook &gt;System Preferences &gt; Software Update -&gt; &ldquo;Upgrade Now&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76f9d0d0.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76f9d0d0.png.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-6\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When you are done, launch the Messages app &gt; Preferences &gt; iMessage, choose &ldquo;Enable Messages in iCloud&rdquo;&nbsp;and click on &ldquo;Sync Now&rdquo;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"seeing-notifications-for-old-messages-on-macbook\">Seeing notifications for old messages on Macbook<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Problem: you open your Mac and all the messages you&rsquo;ve gotten since the last time you used your Mac start popping up, including those that you&rsquo;ve opened and replied to on your iPhone or another device.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Turning on the Power Nap feature can stop this from happening. The Power Nap feature basically lets your laptop get more done (like process messages) while it is closed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To turn on Power Nap, click on the Apple in the top left corner of your Macbook screen. Go to System Preferences -&gt; Energy Saver and select &ldquo;Enable Power Nap while on battery power&rdquo;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76fe579c.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec76fe579c.png.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-7\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51-1024x209.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2034\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51-1024x209.png 1024w, https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51-300x61.png 300w, https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51-768x157.png 768w, https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51.png 1204w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 40px), 720px\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51-1024x209.png.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2034 lazyload\" width=\"1204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51-1024x209.png.webp 1024w, https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51-300x61.png.webp 300w, https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51-768x157.png.webp 768w, https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51.png.webp 1204w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 40px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screenshot-2021-06-12-at-11.24.51.png\" height=\"246\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-8\" loading=\"lazy\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-search-for-old-messages-on-iphone\">How to search for old messages on iPhone<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>If you are looking for an old message on your iPhone, instead of scrolling forever to find it, you can simply use the search feature of the Messages app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With your Messages app open, simply swipe downwards until you pull up the Search bar and type a search phrase. A list of matching messages appears.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec7704f6f8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec7704f6f8.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-9\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-automatically-delete-old-messages\">How to automatically delete old messages<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>If you don&rsquo;t want your Messages to be stored on your device or in iCloud, go to Settings &gt; Messages. Under Message History, select &ldquo;Keep Messages&rdquo;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are 3 options available in terms of how long your device stores your messages: 30 days, 1 year, and Forever (the default). 30 days of message storage is the minimum option &ndash; the only alternative is to manually delete your messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec77071b39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/img_60eec77071b39.jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-10\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/does-deleting-an-imessage-also-delete-it-for-the-other-person\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"4782\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Does Deleting A Text Or iMessage Also Delete It For The Other Person?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your messages on your iPhone and your other Apple devices are generally stored both on the device itself and in iCloud. As a result, your Messages are saved and listed chronologically.&nbsp; Sometimes, however, this can go wrong and you may notice things like: In this post, we look at these issues and how we can &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"","disable-critical-css":false},"categories":[1405],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2033"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25966,"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions\/25966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilepains.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}