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How to move text messages to a new phone

Bring your conversations with you when you move phone. We show you how to bring your next messages across to your new device.
By Sean Bradley
Tech Advisor DEC 14, 2017 5:54 pm GMT

Changing phone is always bittersweet. On the one hand you have a shiny new phone, but on the other you have to go through the process of moving all of your data over, which is never quite as easy as we’d like it to be.

While moving contacts and photos can be done through Google and Gmail easily, moving text messages between phones can be slightly trickier. We’re here to show you how.

How to move messages from iPhone to iPhone:

  •  Turn on the iCloud Backup feature on your old device, which is found by navigating into Settings, your account, then iCloud, and then Backup.

Text Message Moving

  • Ensure that your messages are being saved in the iCloud, by going to Settings, then into Messages. Turn on the option of “Messages on iCloud” by tapping the slider so it shows as green.
  • Tap the “Sync now” button to upload your messages to the iCloud right away.
  • Turn on your new iPhone.
  • During the setup of your new iPhone, you will be presented with an option to restore it from iCloud. Sign in using your ID, and select the most recent backup.

How to move messages from Android to Android, using SMS Backup & Restore:

  • Download SMS Backup & Restore onto both your new and old phone and ensure they’re both connected to the same Wifi network.
  • Open up the app on both phones, and hit “Transfer”. A box will appear explaining how the process works. Select the desired option on each phone, between “Send from this phone” and “Receive on this phone”.
  • The phones will then search for each other over the network. Once the sending phone finds the receiving phone, it will appear in the available list. Select it.
  • The receiving phone will get an invite from the sending phone. Accept it. You’ll be presented with two options, choose “Transfer text messages and call logs from the current state of your phone” for the most up to date records of your messages.

Text Messages to a new phone

  • The sending phone will then transfer the data over to the receiving phone, which will take a few moments. When this is complete, a prompt will ask you if you’d like to Accept and Restore. Tap this to confirm.
  • Once you’ve confirmed the choice, the restore will start. When it ends, you will be presented with a pop up informing you that you’ll have to set SMS Backup & Restore as the default SMS app until the transfer is finished. Hit “Ok” and continue.
  • You will then be presented with a prompt for changing SMS backup & Restore to be your SMS app, hit “Yes”.
  • The process will now start, and this will take some time depending on how much data you have to move. Leave it for a while, and let it run through.
  • Once this is complete, you will be presented with another pop-up with details of the transfer. Dismiss this, and open up your messaging app – your call log and messages from your previous phone will all be there.

How to move messages from an iPhone to Android:

  • Start by backing up your iPhone. Connect your iPhone to your computer, and navigate to File > Devices > Backup.
  • Once the Backup is complete, you’ll have to locate the file on your computer that contains the text messages.
  • If you’re on a PC, you’ll find this inside /users/(username)/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/Mobile Sync. If you’re in a Mac, it will be inside /(user)/Library/Application Support/Mobile Sync/Backup.

  • Select the folder with the most recent timestamp, open it up and look for a file with the following name ‘3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28’.
  • Once you’ve found the file, move it over to your Android device.
  • Download and install an app called iSMS2droid on your phone, open it up and hit “Select iPhone SMS Database” and find the file that you just moved onto your device. This will convert the data file into something that Android can interact with.
  • Install SMS Backup & Restore on your Android phone. Open it up, choose “Restore” and locate the file that was created by iSMS2droid.
  • Choose “Restore All Messages”. Once the update completes, you will now have all of your iPhone messages present on your Android device.

How to move messages from Android to iPhone:

  • After your new iPhone starts up, you will be prompted to choose a Wifi network. You’ll then be provided with a few options to migrate your data. Select “Move Data from Android”.
  • On your old Android phone, install the “Move to iOS” app that can be found in the Play Store and open it up.

  • Proceed on from “Move Data from Android”, and you will eventually see an option to “Find your Code”. Tap next.
  • When proceeding further on your Android device, you will need to confirm the transfer by entering the code that is displayed on your iPhone, and then wait for the transfer window to pop up on your Android device.When the transfer window arrives, select ‘Messages’ and anything else you would like to transfer over to your new phone, and then hit next to start the transfer

If you’re changing phones then you’re going to appreciate our guide on moving your pictures, and moving your contacts too!