In order to recover your deleted messages, you’ll most likely need to download an app that can perform that task. As with downloading any new app, make sure that you’re downloading a well-known app from a reputable source. This will help decrease your chance of downloading a malicious app. After you download an app — especially an app that can access all of your device in order to recover lost files — be sure to run a full virus scan on your phone to make sure that it is free of any malware. Click here to run a full virus scan on your device:

The time that you have to retrieve your deleted text messages differs. You can only retrieve them as long as the memory that they were saved on is still available. Once the memory becomes overwritten by another file or app update, you’ll no longer be able to retrieve your deleted messages. Unfortunately, that memory could be overwritten almost immediately after your texts were deleted.

How to recover old text messages if you still have time to act

In order to retrieve old text messages, you’ll most likely need to have a rooted phone, and you’ll need to download a third-party app. You will not be able to root your phone in a short amount of time, either, so if your phone isn’t rooted before you delete your texts then you’re out of luck.

The solution: Back up your text messages

If you don’t want to worry about deleting your messages again, then you’ll need to regularly back up your texts. You can download a free app from the Play store, like SMS Backup & Restore, to perform this function. With this app, you’ll be able to back up all of your messages to Google Drive, Dropbox, or your email so that you’ll never lose a text. You’ll also be able to restore old text messages (as long as they were backed up), as the name suggests.

When you are straining your eyes on a daily basis by constantly squinting at tiny texts, you probably do not consider that to be an ideal situation. Furthermore, if you are glued to your phone all day long, whether it is by choice or circumstance, it is unhealthy for your eyes to undergo such stress. It is highly recommended that you take some action! You have many options at your disposal to alleviate this discomfort, but the one we will be focusing on is high contrast text.

Wait, What is High Contrast Text?

Simply put, setting your phone to high contrast text mode will allow you to read your texts with more ease. No, it does not make the font bigger. Instead, it outlines lighter colored words in black so that the items are more distinguishable. For example, texts in white will be traced with black, which will be especially useful for those who are visually impaired in lessening the difficulty in reading. The central concept is that the colors adjust so that it contrasts with the background. What makes this feature even more notable is that it is as easy to set up as it helps you to read!

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Here Are a Few Short Steps to Enable High Contrast Texts.

1. Before we begin, make sure that your Android is 5.0 or higher.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Scroll down until you find Accessibility.
4. Select Vision.
5. Check the box next to high contrast text.
6. Enjoy the new feature!

A Side Note.

Although some devices may have slightly different steps, the general instructions are the same! It should also be noted that this feature is considered to be experimental so its results will not always be consistent. Nevertheless, this feature performs reliably well in achieving the goal of better reading. In the unfortunate occasion that it fails to meet your expectations, you can simply uncheck the box next to high contrast text.

Luckily, backing up your texts and call logs is simple. Most backup apps available in the Google Play store work to this end, but if you want frequent backups you can rely on it’s best to automate the process. Here are two ways to do it.

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Backup Texts to Gmail with SMS Backup+

SMS Backup+ syncs your SMS, MMS, and call logs to a Gmail account of your choice. It offers several settings to fine-tune your backup experience.

Download the app from Google Play and follow the simple prompts on the screen to set up your backup. By default, SMS Backup+ saves your data every two hours and within three minutes of receiving a new message. You can choose to sync existing data or only the texts and calls you receive from this point forward.

Save Your Data to Google Drive Spreadsheets with IFTTT

IFTTT—short for If This, Then That — uses third-party apps to create automated recipes that respond to triggers you define. It’s a powerful productivity tool with a desktop and mobile app version that makes automation simple and straightforward.

This method sends all future data to a Google Spreadsheet for easy searching and sorting. Note that it does not make backups of older data. For that you will need to use a third party app that can export your data to a CSV file.

To create full backups of your data, you’ll need to create several recipes.

Recipe 1 – Outbound Calls Log

Under the channel for “If This,” find “Android Phone Call” and select the trigger for “Any Phone Call Placed.” For your “Then,” choose “Google Drive” and the option to “Add Row to Spreadsheet.”

From here, you can define the spreadsheet and add the location you’d like the information to go to, or let IFTTT automatically create one. By default, it will save the date, time, and duration of the call as well as the recipient’s name and number. This can be changed in the “Formatted Row” field of your recipe.

Recipe 2 – Inbound Calls Log

Using the steps outlined above, create your “If This” with the trigger “Any Phone Call Answered.” Again, choose the Google Drive option and let IFTTT do its thing.

Recipe 3 – Missed Calls Log

Follow the recipe a third time, changing your Android call trigger to “Any Phone Call Missed.” Customize it to your liking, then create the recipe. Now you should have a spreadsheet for each type of call action.

Recipe 4 – Saving Your SMS Messages

Select “Android SMS” as your “If This.” Set your trigger to “Any New SMS Received.” For your “Then,” scroll down, select “Google Drive” and then “Add Row to Spreadsheet.” You can configure the spreadsheet options if you wish. Repeat this process to create another recipe for “any new SMS sent.” Keep in mind that these recipes do not work on MMS messages.