How To Backup SMS Text Messages And Restore Them On Your Android

As an avid Android user of text messages (also known as SMS), I often find the need to look back at previous text messages over the course of time. They serve as good reminders of what conversation was held when and are a simple brilliant way to backup any claims you are making. Today, we’ll be looking at how to backup SMS on your Android. Why would you want to do this? By having a backup of your Android text messages, you will always have a history of your text messages in case you lose your phone.

Luckily, making a backup of your Android SMS messages is easier than you think. On more archaic platforms (older generations of Symbian), it was generally a pain in the backside. The entire process involved needing to install some poorly coded app or the other which would just not work because of the fragmentation in the Symbian ecosystem. With an Android, creating a backup of my SMS was as simple as installing SMS To Text.

Backup SMS on Android

This Android SMS backup and restore app (the interface actually consists of one primary screen from which you don’t need to deviate unless you want to tweak under the hood), really eases the backing up of texts. Unlike many fancier counterparts, it doesn’t offer any crazily indulgent features like syncing with the cloud. It simply reads through your texts and saves them as a file on your memory card.

The main screen of the app is where you would start creating your backup Android SMS file. Most of the time, you will not need to go beyond this screen. The app allows you to filter text messages by contact (so for example, you could filter text messages from your girlfriend and keep it as a separate file). It also allows you to toggle between backing up all messages, incoming messages or outgoing messages only. Finally, it lets you select the format in which you want the backup SMS file to be. You can select the trustworthy old text, or move to the screen friendly CSV, as per your wishes. Finally, a small button enables you to actually carry out the export to your card.

More than just a simple Android SMS backup

The Settings screen has some advanced features for those of us who like to tinker around with their apps. Under it, you’ll find the option select the folder where your backup Android SMS file will be exported. You can also provide a date format that will be used in your text logs, as well as a format for time. Finally, you have the option of sorting the entire bundle of text messages based on two fields. So, you can sort based on the date on which the text went as well as the direction in which it went (in/out). Handy! The Pro (paid) version also enables you to send the logs as an email to a predefined email address.

SMS To Text does the job of backing up Android SMS really well. It does beautifully. In fact, there’s an ease of use that’s made more obvious because of how lightweight the app is. I’ve been using it for a while to backup text messages on my Android. Once the backup is made, I connect to my home Wi-fi network and auto-sync the texts with my computer. It’s one easy, simple process that’s saved me countless number of times.

Do you backup your SMS messages? Which app do you use to do that? Let us know in the comments!