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Does iTunes back-up SMS?
- Thread starter mkstewartesq@co
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I sync everytime I charge. Are you saying that if I restore on the same Mac I will not lose my SMS? There is not a tab for syncing/backing up SMS in iTunes, which is why I was asking about whether it backed those up.
Thanks,
M
I had a similar question as well.. Tomorrow, I will be swapping out my current phone for one that is *hopefully* less buggy. I was wondering about SMS threads as well as call history. Am I going to loose all that when I get the new phone and sync it for the first time?
I bought a 4GB on launch day.
Yesterday, I synced with iTunes, then I erased all data on settings on the iPhone, and then I exchanged it at the AT&T Store for an 8GB iPhone.
Brought the 8GB home, synced it and it asked if I wanted to restore. I chose the last sync time (the only choice) and when it was done and I took it out of the cradle, I checked and it had all my previous SMS conversations.
So in my experience yes it did back them up! I actually didn't expect them to be saved, so it was a good surprise.
Yesterday, I synced with iTunes, then I erased all data on settings on the iPhone, and then I exchanged it at the AT&T Store for an 8GB iPhone.
Brought the 8GB home, synced it and it asked if I wanted to restore. I chose the last sync time (the only choice) and when it was done and I took it out of the cradle, I checked and it had all my previous SMS conversations.
So in my experience yes it did back them up! I actually didn't expect them to be saved, so it was a good surprise.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A543a Safari/419.3)
Supposedly iTunes does keep a backup of even the threaded SMS conversations.
EDIT: Yup it does, /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/[really long hex string]. One of the mdbackup files has the SMS conversations in it.
Supposedly iTunes does keep a backup of even the threaded SMS conversations.
EDIT: Yup it does, /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/[really long hex string]. One of the mdbackup files has the SMS conversations in it.
Yup. It is saved as well. Of course the mdbackup file is readable, but I couldn't tell you which one to look at. You would have to go through each one to find it.
YES, it WILL bring back your SMS as long as the last time you sync'ed the phone, it had SMS messages in it.
The following script will extract your backups - the sms database will be in ~/iPhone/Backup/Library/SMS/sms.db
You must run it from inside the iPhone backup that you want to extract (or specify it on the command line.) (according to the developer who wrote it).
http://calmstorm.net/iphone/unravel.perl
Anyone comming accross this might want to know that erica sadun has a command line utility called blist which works really well for determining which mdbackup file is relevant.
I used it to find the mdbackup with my SMS.db in it... sadly when i read it the old ones I wanted had already been replaced. At least I didn't have to bother extracting it.
I used it to find the mdbackup with my SMS.db in it... sadly when i read it the old ones I wanted had already been replaced. At least I didn't have to bother extracting it.
if you want to extract your sms database to xml, the following might be useful for you: http://insend.de
The only thing that backup doesn't do is email and passwords. Everthing else is backed up, SMS, webclips, alarms and clocks, weather cities, all call data, usage settings, notes, even what figures your calculator was displaying at the time of the backup.
I don't really know how well iTunes backs up the SMS messages, so I use a program called Syphone. It is for Mac only, but it will backup all the text messages on your phone every time you sync and it also allows you to view them at any time on your Mac. It is a pretty neat program, I highly recommend it to anyone who gets tons of messages, but doesn't like having a long list of saved messages on the phone. Check it out here... http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=190
Happy New Year to All
i am trying to back up my iphone contacts and texts / sms / calendars.
but it takes forewer with iTunes 10 (MAC) and it never finishes.
since its 2012 already , i guess there must be some new apps to
backup contacts/ texts and sms , etc from iPhone better or more sure than the iTunes rolleyes: ?
any good free or shareware once?
thanks in advance for any ideas
i am trying to back up my iphone contacts and texts / sms / calendars.
but it takes forewer with iTunes 10 (MAC) and it never finishes.
since its 2012 already , i guess there must be some new apps to
backup contacts/ texts and sms , etc from iPhone better or more sure than the iTunes rolleyes: ?
any good free or shareware once?
thanks in advance for any ideas
nope it want
it will only keep your photos and some other stuff...
i am about to run a restore that is required by my carrier (Orange France) in order to
do an authorised "hardware" unlock from them.
as i have system iOS 3.2.1 ( iPhone 3GS) and i don't want to
upgrade to iOS 5 ( yet) only as far as iOS 4.x.x
i would like to back ALL important things from my iPhone
to be able to restore all my SMS and contacts/phone numbers ( they are important for my bussiness) than to be able to restore them back
once i am in iOS 4.x.x
i don't trust that iTunes will do it for me reliably .... it did so called "backed up" something for 2 hours.... i had only "manualy sync music and videos" checked in itunes... so not sure WHAT is actually backed up?
so i am looking for a 3d party tools that do backup work more reliably
would appreciate any input.
P.S. btw if its important : my iPhone 3GS is jailbroken / unlocked on iOS 3.1.2 so as i am getting an official unlock from the carrier i still would like to be able to rejailbreak as soon as i upgrade.
Mate you're going to be forced to upgrade to iOS 5.0.1 when you do the unlock. Plus you won't be able to retrieve any photos etc etc as iOS 4 or lower backups are not compatible with iOS 5
He doesn't need to worry about a backup for photos or most stuff, since most things that can be backed up in the backup can be synced with the appropriate software (like Address Book for contacts, etc.). Photos (on the iPhone) can just be copied to the hardrive and then synced. Also, there is 3rd party software that can be used for those things that aren't synced in iTunes (like messages).
Yeah I know that but if the OP just plugs in to do the update without backing up to third party software or copying photo's to his hard drive when he updates it will wipe the phone and any iOS backup from 4.x.x and down will not sync back to the iPhone once he has restored because it isn't compatible. I know this becaus I have lost everything doing the upgrade on an iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.
The message I got was along the lines of 'unable to restore from backup. The backup is not compatible'
yes iTunes did backed up everything for me including SMS ,
but it took few hours ....
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