SMS Backup

Anonymous

I'm brand new to windows phone 8 and I realize that the built-in SMS backup service only restores texts present on the phone. I need a true backup service that I had on my android phone so I can backup all communications with my ex-wife. Is there anything available on the store?

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Anonymous

I just found an app that someone (tfadi <- I think) wrote in the Windows App Store titled

"Windows Phone Message Backup".

The app allowed me to pull down all of my backed up SMS and MMS messages from my WP8 phone to my Windows 8.1 machine, and export individual messages or entire threads to .txt files out on my OneDrive account.

That's exactly what I needed to get to my old text messages.

I just downloaded and ran it against my SMS/MMS messages. It worked very nicely. It has a few rough edges, but that's the beta experience. It's from Tafidi software.

You can get the app from here. That link will run the Windows Store app and take you to the app.

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Anonymous

There is NOW an app for that called contacts+message backup

Contacts + Message Backup app is a Settings app that enables you to make backup of all your contacts (in VCF format) and messages (SMS & MMS including attachments) to SD card (in XML format) for later restore to same or another Windows Phone.

Backup is stored in 'backup+restore' folder on the SD card.

Known Issue: Restoring a backup of messages from a dual SIM Windows Phone restores all messages to message store for the first SIM/slot.

Note: To use this app, please go to Settings on your Windows Phone. This app will NOT appear in your list of installed apps.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/contacts-message-backup/07f078fb-cdbb-42e8-9027-25eddccbebf2

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Anonymous

Great stuff, thanks for testing it and replying here. Also many thanks to Tafidi** for putting this together.

I've given this a go with very positive initial results.

To add to your post:

The app cannot be installed directly onto a WP8 phone. It's intended to be installed on, and run from the Windows 8.1 device (which is why you can't find it when looking for it using your phone's Store app).
Two step authentication does not need to be disabled to use the app. One just needs to set up an "app password" here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/app-passwords-two-step-verification. Once you follow the directions on the screen you'll get a long password that you use when logging into the app on your Windows 8.1 device.
The app will connect to your WP8 phone after you plug the phone into your device using the USB port on the device.
The app needs to have focus in order to load all text messages. If you start up the app, plug in the phone, and then swap to a different screen, SMS loading into the app will halt until you swap back to the app. I didn't realise this and was wondering why the heck it was taking forever to get all my messages :P
The sort order of the addressees on the left panel is not alphabetical, and not time-based (like most recent addressees first/last. etc).
Group chats are supported, but I notice the last one or two messages in the chat aren't populated. I see the "bubbles" on the app screen, but the actual text content is missing. Doesn't seem to happen with single-user chats.
Downloading to text is easy - right-click a bubble on the right, or right-click a sender/receiver on the list on the left. Options will appear in the lower right panel to download as text or message. You'll be prompted for the target location and name and the export is done as expected.
Downloading to image is trickier but not bad. Only the currently-highlighted (selected) bubble is exported to image. I was hoping i'd be able to download all images sent to me by a sender by right-clicking the sender's name on the left but that doesn't work as expected. Still not bad and I'm very happy to have this option.

** I was originally put off by the developer's website - there's no mention of this app on the web page, and it looks a bit odd to have just a "Back to the Drawing Board" message up front. Hope he/she gets more content on the landing page or less adventurous folks will shy away from this helpful app.

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Anonymous

If you want to retain the texts, it is possible to copy the content of the texts and paste them to a OneNote document. From there, you can copy/paste to wherever you like.

This is a manual process per individual text. There's no automated way of exporting multiple text messages.

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62 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-01-26T19:33:53+00:00
I'm brand new to windows phone 8 and I realize that the built-in SMS backup service only restores texts present on the phone. I need a true backup service that I had on my android phone so I can backup all communications with my ex-wife. Is there anything available on the store?

Hi,

I may have a solution using your PC and a USB cable*****:
1. Download Transfer My Data from the Windows Store onto both phones. It's a backup and restore app for Contacts, SMS, and MMS by Microsoft Mobile. (Nokias have it preloaded.)
2. Download Files from the Windows Store onto both phones. It's a file explorer app by Microsoft Corporation.
3. On your old phone, open Transfer My Data. (New phone instructions begin at Step 15.)
4. Swipe from the bottom to open menu. Select export to sd card.
5. The app moves to the export screen displaying a checklist. It may contain one or all of the following: Contacts, Text messages, MMS. (Text messages = SMS.) It will also display the number of records for each item.
6. Select whichever item(s) you want to export. Press Start to begin the process.
7. To verify the export, open Files and press SD Card.
8. Locate and press backup folder. (Folders not sorted alphabetically by default.)
9. Press Data, then folder name composed of date+time. (This is the time of export.)
10. You should be able to see one or all of the following folders: Contact, Sms, and Mms. Each folder displays the number of files within. (Contacts and text messages are each condensed ito a single file. MMS are saved as individual files.)
11. Connect phone to PC using USB cable.
12. Using Windows Explorer, browse the Windows Phone > SD card folders.
13. Among the default folders, select the backup folder and drag it to your PC's desktop. (You need all of the contents within.)
14. Close Windows Explorer. Disconnect USB from phone.
15. Connect new phone to PC using USB.
16. Using Windows Explorer, browse the Windows Phone > SD cardfolders.
17. Drag the backup folder from your PC's desktop to the SD card folder. You should be able to view it among the phone's default folders.
18. Optional: if you want to verify the copy was successful, follow Steps 7 through 10.
19. Still on the new phone, open Transfer My Data.
20. Swipe from below to open menu. Select import from sd card.
21. The app moves to the import screen displaying a checklist. (This list should be the same as the export list on your old phone.)
22. Select whichever item(s) you want to import. Press Start to begin the process.
23. Once complete, check your contacts and text messages. The new data will be integrated with the data already on your new phone, i.e.: new texts from mom will follow old texts from mom, and so forth.
Try it out and if you find an error with my instructions let me know as I did all of the above whilst in the loo and I'm just going by memory.

NOTES:

*Transfer My Data also allows copying between phones via Bluetooth. Though you might not have access to text messages or MMS. If you want to use this method see Windows Phone How-To website. Using Bluetooth may also compromise your privacy if done in public.

**Files also allows copying files to and from OneDrive if you want don't have access to a PC and/or USB. However, for MMS, copying more than 100 files might prove tricky. Using OneDrive may also compromise your privacy.

Some folks like their privacy.
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