How can I find text messages I have sent?

Unless you have deleted it, you should find it in the Messages app. If you did delete it, the only way to recover it is if you have a backup of the device when the message was there and you have not created a backup of the device since you deleted it.

No, if it is sent, it will remain at that status on your phone. If you deleted the message though, it is gone.

Best rule of thumb regarding Messages.........only delete a message if you are sure that you will never need it again.

you would have to find a backup created via iCloud, or Locally saved on a Mac, or Windows computer, from iTunes. Then you can restore from that backup.

If none, of these are available then the message, appears to be gone.

[Edited by Moderator]

A backup will only help......IF.....the backup occurred while the messages were still on the iPhone......AND.....there have been no more backups since the time that the backup was made when the messages were still on the iPhone.

If the messages were deleted and another backup has run, then then the next backup would pick up the deletion of the messages, so they would no longer appear in the backup.

The bottom line......probably 99% of the time, it is too late to try to retrieve the messages from a backup, because the user starts looking for the message a few days after it was deleted. By then, the messages are gone from the backup.

Bcronin8 wrote:

Yikes. If sent, it’s done and gone, I guess.

No, it will be in your Messages app, unless you deleted it from the messages app. As already explained above.

As you have already been told, no, it isn't sent and gone. As I said, unless you deleted it, it should still be in the thread you have with the recipient.