Transfer SMS/iMessage to new iOS install

[Hallstar]

Hi all,

I have just picked up my iPhone 7 Plus and as with all of my new devices I am setting it up as a new device.

Is there a way of transferring my texts/iMessages from my current iPhone 6S Plus to iPhone 7 Plus without restoring from a backup etc?

 

[blindside217]

No official way without restoring from a backup. There are some apps on the Mac that will extract the Messages data from an iTunes backup and then make a new backup with only that Messages data in it that you can restore from. I don't remember the name of the app at the moment.

 

[Mlrollin91]

No official way without restoring from a backup. There are some apps on the Mac that will extract the Messages data from an iTunes backup and then make a new backup with only that Messages data in it that you can restore from. I don't remember the name of the app at the moment.

Decipher activity tool does it. But its a paid app. They only do health data for free.

 

[Hallstar]

I used this workaround in the end.

https://9to5mac.com/2016/04/09/how-...s-imessages-clean-ios-install/comment-page-1/

 

[boston04and07]

I used this method http://www.idownloadblog.com/2014/03/06/how-to-back-up-restore-sms-messages/ and it worked really well for me. I actually used it to transfer my entire iMessages history from my iPhone 6s to my iPad mini 4. Since I'd had an iPhone for several years longer than an iPad, and since it took the Messages app a few years to make its way over to the iPad after that, the iPad's Messages library was significantly smaller than that on my iPhone, which bugged me. I know you can transfer iPhone to iPhone and iPad to iPad using this method, but I don't think you can transfer iPad to iPhone - I'm not sure why but I think I remember reading that somewhere.

Off topic, but I really wish they'd make it easier to restore accidental deletions in Messages. It's waaaaay too easy to accidentally delete a whole thread with an errant swipe. They should have a "Recently Deleted" folder, like they do in Notes and Photos, that gets cleared out after 30 days but alternatively can be manually emptied right away.