iPhone XS iCloud restore to new device - missing data

[emt60]

I had an iPhone 7, did a full iCloud backup. Then restored to a new iPhone XS. No issues or errors, everything seemed fine.

After the first nightly backup, I noticed the size of my backup of the XS was about 8GB, whereas the backup of the 7 sitting in iCloud is listed as 16GB. I was slightly concerned by this, but couldn’t seem to figure out what was missing.

Now a few weeks later, it seems some of my older messages threads don’t have photos in them. Just placeholders with photo names. I don’t use iCloud message, but I did enable it for a short time last year.

Anyone have any thoughts about what might have happened?

I had wiped my 7 and had it fixed (no service issue). If I restore the 7 backup to the 7, enable iCloud message on that and my XS, would the messages all merge nicely?

 

[Apple_Robert]

If you restore from backup and enable iCloud message on both devices, that should solve the problem.

 

[now i see it]

Messages can never be trusted to back up itself properly. Don't use Messages as a storage place for messages. Read them & copy them somewhere else if you really want to keep them. A better solution is to trash them every once in a while.

 

[crawfish963]

I find that iCloud messages is hit or miss as to if it restores your old messages or not. As stated, don't rely on it. If you still have the 7 I would move the files elsewhere or try a new backup.