Search within your text messages on iPhone

In iOS 16.2 and later, you can search for specific things across conversations and within images.

Reveal the search field in Messages

1. In Messages, open your list of conversations.

2. Swipe down from the list of conversations in the Messages app to reveal the search field.

3. Enter what you want to find and tap search.

In iOS 16.2 and later, you can search for photos in messages based on what's pictured, like a dog, car, person, or text. And in iOS 17 and later, you can narrow your search by applying multiple filters–like messages with a specific person, content types like photos or links, or keywords–to make it easier to find exactly what you're looking for.

If you recently deleted a conversation, it's not included in search results. Learn how to recover deleted messages in iOS.

Find attachments from a specific conversation

1. Open the conversation that you want to search.

2. Tap the name of the group or contact at the top of the message. If you're using iOS 14 or earlier, or iPadOS, tap the Info button.

3. Scroll down to find Photos, Links, Documents, and more from the conversation. Touch and hold an image or attachment to show options like Save, Copy, Share, and Delete.