Lost some iMessages after upgrading to iOS18.1

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Level 1

18 points

Lost some iMessages after upgrading to iOS18.1

After upgrading to iOS 18.1, some iMessages are missing from certain conversations on my phone. Only one page of recent messages appears, and when I scroll up to load more (when the spinning wheel appears), it skips ahead by several months.

I have iCloud backup enabled for iMessages, so I can still see the missing messages on my other devices, but they aren’t showing up on this phone with iOS 18.1.

If I tap "Sync Now" for Messages in iCloud, I could get 1 day of missing iMessages back, but if I quit and re-launch Messages app they will disappear again

iPhone 15

Posted on Oct 29, 2024 09:34 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

CPTWorgan

Level 1

20 points

Nov 17, 2024 01:36 PM in response to zytng

This exact issue happened to my iPhone after the upgrade.

My iMessages only showed saved texts from over a month ago.

I reset my phone, I turned airplane mode on and off, I signed out and back into my apple ID, I reset my network settings, and nothing worked.

I had to downgrade my IOS back to IOS 17.7 in order for it to start working again, but my appleWatch is bricked because it will only work with IOS 18 now.

When is this fix going to happen, and why in the heck can I no use my applewatch with IOS 17.7 anymore?

This seems like a huge problem. Apple needs to allow for an official revert to earlier IOS versions as well as not bricking an apple watch from using older versions of IOS.

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Answer 2

adm123

Level 1

8 points

Nov 2, 2024 09:02 PM in response to zytng

I am also experiencing this. It’s a disaster. The messages appear in the search tool, but not in the actual iMessage thread. I’ve lost so many messages—a full month of texts with a close friend, and I don’t know what to do!

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Answer 3

zytng Author

Level 1

18 points

Oct 29, 2024 09:55 PM in response to zytng

It appears to only retain one page of recent messages. When I send new messages in the affected conversation and scroll to the top of the current page, the oldest message disappears, and the next message that loads is from several months back.

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Answer 4

Nov 20, 2024 10:37 PM in response to zytng

Hi, this is exactly what is happening to me also. What is weird is that on my iPad and MacBook Pro I see all the messages but on mi iPhone I see only like last 10 from the conversation and then a black hole and it goes months without anything. Any chance of solving the issue?

Btw yes I think I use both email and phone number when texting this contact.

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Answer 5

LTSTSUB

Level 1

8 points

Nov 25, 2024 03:15 PM in response to zytng

Did anyone get resolution to this, having same issue and tried all the things Google recommends. Still have large blocks of messages missing (months) but they seem to show up in search just not messages.

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Answer 6

zytng Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 2, 2024 11:08 PM in response to adm123

Hi, do you by chance use both email address and phone number when texting to this friend? I feel like my issue is related to the relationship between email address and phone number of a contact.

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