Lost iMessages and iCloud sync issues after iPhone upgrade

Question

Lost iMessages and iCloud sync issues after iPhone upgrade

HI.

I recently upgraded from an Iphone 14 pro to an Iphone 17 pro max. Shortly before upgrading (maybe 2 months ago) i noticed that i lost about two years of messages. Importantly, with a very special person. I did not delete them. My imessage settings have always been on "never delete/always keep".

I have tried updating my phone, turning icloud imessages off and on, turning imessage off and on with no luck. I have about 320,000 imessages in the cloud, but when i hit "sync now", they either don't sync, they sync maybe 200 or sometimes 5 at a time. I have increased my icloud storage to 2TB, and im using about 320 GB total.

Please help. I am desperate to get these messages back.

iPhone 17 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Nov 24, 2025 6:06 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

zinacef

Level 10

88,720 points

Dec 4, 2025 3:48 PM in response to Apple_lover2756

The fact that your iCloud settings still show 320,000 messages is a very positive sign, confirming that your data exists on the server but is likely suffering from a "metadata vs. payload" stall where the new iPhone sees the list of messages but is struggling to download the actual content.

To force this massive sync to complete, you should plug your iPhone into a charger, connect to strong Wi-Fi, and leave the screen locked overnight for at least 8–10 hours; this allows the iOS "High Performance" maintenance window to process the database without the throttling that occurs during active use.

If that doesn't work, try changing your iPhone Language (e.g., to English UK) in settings to force a Spotlight re-index, which often reveals "hidden" messages, or toggle the iCloud Messages setting off by specifically selecting "Disable and Download Messages" to force a server-side push.

Finally, check if these messages appear on a secondary device like an iPad or Mac; if they do, your data is safe and the issue is isolated to a corrupt database on the new iPhone that may require a reset to clear.

Reply