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Linda asked: “I have an iPhone 7 and somehow I lost the app on my phone for messages. Apparently, it has been deleted and stupid me, I didn’t back it up. Do you think there is a way Apple would be able to retrieve it for me?”
Linda, there’s no way to delete the “Messages” app on an iOS device like an iPhone. Apple did introduce the ability to remove the icons of SOME built-in apps with iOS 10 a little while back, but “Messages” isn’t one of them. Chances are that you mistakenly moved it to its own page in the launcher, or perhaps placed it in a folder.
Swipe down with your finger to reveal the search bar and type in “messages” to find the app
To find out, swipe down with your finger to reveal the search bar and type in “messages” to find the app. It’ll pop up in the search results.
If you mean you’ve lost any other app that you use for messages — like the mail App or even facebook messenger — just search for it in the app store and redownload it. There’s no need to back apps up when they’re available anytime for re-downloading from Apple’s servers. Though we do caution you that any data associated with deleted apps may be lost!