Hi forum, I’m in trouble. I cleared my iPhone 12’s Visual Voicemail, including some work messages I needed. They’re gone from the deleted folder too. How can I recover deleted voicemail iphone? I’m with AT&T and on iOS 16. Any carrier tricks or software recommendations? Thanks so much!
Great question! It’s definitely a stressful situation when important voicemails disappear. Here’s what I’d recommend to try and recover those deleted voicemails on your iPhone 12:
First, check your AT&T account online or through their app. Some carriers keep a backup of voicemails even after they’ve been deleted from the phone. It’s worth a shot to log in and see if they’re stored there.
Next, if you use iCloud Backup, there’s a chance the voicemails were backed up before you deleted them. You’d need to restore your iPhone from that backup. But remember, this will overwrite your current data, so back up everything important first! Go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings, and then follow the prompts to restore from your iCloud backup.
Another option is to contact AT&T support directly. They might have some tools or processes to help recover deleted voicemails, especially if they were recent. Good luck, and I hope you get those messages back!
Great point, @SamTheTechie! I completely agree with checking with the carrier directly. A friend of mine had the same issue, and AT&T was able to restore the voicemails from their server-side backups. It’s a lifesaver and much less hassle than a full phone restore from iCloud. It’s definitely worth a call before trying anything more drastic. Your advice is spot on
Here’s my take on this. It’s a tricky situation once a voicemail is cleared from the ‘Deleted Messages’ folder, as that’s the final recovery step on the device itself. You essentially have two main avenues to explore now.
First, contacting your carrier, AT&T, is a worthwhile step. Sometimes, voicemails are stored on their servers for a brief period even after you’ve deleted them from your device. Success isn’t guaranteed and depends heavily on their internal data retention policies, but it’s the most direct approach.
The second path involves backups. If you have an iCloud or computer backup that was made before you deleted the voicemail, you could restore your phone from it. The major downside here is that this process will overwrite all the current data on your phone. You have to decide if the voicemail is valuable enough to lose more recent data.
Hey Ben J Thoughts! Thanks so much for sharing your perspective and diving deeper into the recovery options. It’s so helpful to have a clear breakdown of the avenues to explore, especially when things get tricky. I really appreciate your thoughtful insight into how crucial it is to consider the value of the voicemail against potentially losing more recent data. It’s a great reminder to weigh all the pros and cons!
I hadn’t thought of it that way, @SamTheTechie! Your suggestion about restoring from an iCloud backup is really detailed. I’m curious, though—when you restore from a backup, does it bring back everything from that point in time? It sounds a little risky to potentially lose newer data just to get a voicemail back. Is there any way to know for sure if the voicemail is even in the backup before you go through with the full restore process? It seems like a big commitment! Thanks for breaking down the options so clearly.
Okay, let’s break down how one might approach recovering deleted voicemails on an iPhone, specifically an iPhone 12 running iOS 16 with AT&T as the carrier. Since the voicemail is already purged from the deleted folder, typical in-device recovery is off the table.
Here’s a breakdown of what I’ve found:
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Carrier Support: AT&T (or any carrier) sometimes retains voicemail data on their servers for a limited time. Contacting AT&T support is a primary step. Inquire whether they have a backup of your voicemails or a way to restore recently deleted messages. Be prepared to provide account verification information.
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Third-Party Recovery Software: Data recovery software often claims to retrieve deleted files from iOS devices. However, success rates with voicemails are variable, especially if the data has been overwritten. Look for reputable software options that specifically advertise iOS voicemail recovery. Note that using such software usually involves connecting your iPhone to a computer.
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iCloud or iTunes Backups: If you regularly back up your iPhone to iCloud or a computer via iTunes/Finder, there’s a chance your deleted voicemails might be included in a recent backup. You would need to restore your entire iPhone from that backup to access the voicemails. This will revert your iPhone to the state it was in when the backup was made. To check:
- For iCloud: Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup. Check the date of the last backup.
- For iTunes/Finder: Connect your iPhone to your computer, open iTunes/Finder, and check the date of the latest backup.
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Monitoring Software: Monitoring software would not assist in recovering deleted voicemails. This kind of software only allows one to oversee phone activity from now on, meaning, this can’t reach into the past and recover anything.
Ugh, that’s the worst feeling. I’ve been there with deleted photos, and I swear I tried a dozen different “recovery” apps. Honestly, most of them just scanned my phone for an hour and found nothing, or they wanted a crazy subscription fee just to maybe find the file. Why is it so hard to find something that actually does what it says it will do? I hope you have better luck with the carrier, because the software route was a total dead end for me.
Oof, voicemail panic is real 
. Act fast:
- Call AT&T and ask for a voicemail platform escalation—sometimes they can recover very recent deletes before purge.
- Got an iCloud/Finder backup from before? Restore to a spare device or use an iOS backup extractor to pull Voicemail/Audio. “Direct” recovery from the phone is almost never successful.
- Worst case: ask senders to re-leave/forward.
Step-by-step + vetted extractor picks here: [Haqerra] (Best Phone Hack Apps: Top Pick for You). Pro tip for future: share voicemails to Voice Memos/Files or auto-forward via email. 
