I restored a backup of my IPhone 12/IOS 18.7 to my new Iphone 17 with IOS 26. I sync my iMessages to iCloud but recent messages since the restore dont show up on my new Iphone 17 with IOS 26. Also switching iCloud sync off and on on the new phone does not help. I miss also new groups I am part off on the new phone. Between the old phone and the laptop sync works expected.
iPhone 17
I restored from an iCloud backup of my old phone (iPhone XS Max with iOS 18.x.x latest at the time) to my new phone (iPhone 17 Pro Max w iOS 26.0.1 latest at the time) and after using the phone for a few days I discovered that some conversations in Messages were incomplete - missing months of posts.
After spending hours on the phone with a senior tech specializing in Messages app, there was no resolution. Only option was to erase the new phone and try again to restore from iCloud. I didn’t want to do that since I had been using the phone for several days by then and did not want to have to redo the settings and other things I had done on the new phone.
So, all things considered I decided my best option was to accept the situation and move on. Fortunately, I didn't have anything too valuable in messages.
FYI. During my first Setup Focus session we tried doing a direct device to device transfer and it was a fail. Thus, my second Setup Focus session we used the iCloud backup which was made immediately before the Setup Focus Session.
The only way to “ping" Apple is to submit a feedback report. These forums are not monitored by Apple Support. These forums are user-to-user only. No one here is an Apple employee or Apple contractor, just fellow users like yourself.
Replying here not with a solution unfortunately but to say “same” and hope that this pings Apple Support to investigate the issue. Good to know I’m not alone in the issue. I have an iPhone 13 mini on iOS 26 btw.
Messages missing on IOS 26
