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Backing up text messages on iPhone 3GS

T

theliannais

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 11, 2011
1
0
Hi there,

I would very much appreciate if someone can help me back up all my text messages on my iPhone 3GS.

I tried googling it and reading through some forums, but nothing seemed to pertain exactly to how to do this/where to find synced texts if using a Macbook Pro. I just want to have them all on my computer (I found an old cell phone today and was very saddened to realize many of my texts are lost, and I am taking the extra precaution with my iPhone) in case I upgrade to iPhone 4.

Thanks!

Lianna
 
I don't know if you are jailbroken or not but if you are...

1. Use WinSCP or iFunBox to access your iPhone's filesystem
2. Navigate to /var/Mobile/Library
3. Copy the SMS folder.

You may need to do this often if you wanna keep it up to date. The next time you restore your phone, you can just do the same steps again, but replace the new SMS folder with the one your copied the last time.

By the way, iTunes actually automatically backs up your SMSes and almost everything on your phone, you can restore your backup in fact.
 
I think this guide can help.

Step 1: Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes and iOS.
Step 2: Connect your current iPhone 3GS to iTunes and sync it. Verify that your original iPhone is backed up. For more information on how to do this, see iPhone: About backups http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766.
Step 3: Connect your new iPhone 4 to iTunes (on the same computer you used to back up your current iPhone 3GS).
Step 4: iTunes will ask you if you want to restore from a backup or set up your new iPhone as a new phone. When prompted, select the backup of your current iPhone. If iTunes does not prompt you to select a backup to restore when you connect your new iPhone, use iTunes to restore iOS on your new iPhone and try this step again.
Note: During the process of restoring your old backup to a new iPhone, you may see the iTunes progress bar pause. If this occurs, please allow for additional time for the upgrade to complete.
Step 5: After iTunes finishes restoring the backup you selected to your new iPhone, the iPhone will restart.
Step 6: When your new iPhone appears again in the iTunes window, select it.
Step 7: Click the tabs (Info, Music, Photos, and so on) and verify or change the items you want to sync.
Step 8: Click Apply to sync your new iPhone 4 with iTunes.
Step 9: Verify that your saved SMS messages are present on your new iPhone.
Note: If saved SMS messages are not present on your new iPhone, then restore-from-backup may not have been successful. In that case, verify your current iPhone is properly backed up (see step 3), then use iTunes to restore iOS on your new iPhone and continue following these instructions at step 4.
 
Text message back up

There are a few apps on the market which can be used to backup text messages but you would need to check the apps store.
 
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