As above. There were some programs that allowed this but I tried them with my 5 on iOS 8 and no luck so I don't see them working with iOS 9.
When the 9.1-9.2 JB is released I'd love to be able to set up as new and restore only sms and contacts.
I know contacts can be restored via iCloud but there's still no default option to restore just SMS. And as I have an sms I can't lose I've been restoring from a backup since the 4s.
So does anyone know of a way to just restore these? Or am I still, 4 year later stuck with a full restore or nothing at all?
This is my manual way of restoring my SMS when I set up as new. It only works when jailbroken though since you need file access and can be a bit complicated (Personally, I think it's easy but others might think differently)
BACKUP PHASE
1. create an itunes backup
2. itunes restore to 9.1/9.2
3. restore from itunes backup
4. jailbreak device
5. install ifile/filza/openssh/Apple File Conduit 2/etc and navigate to /var/mobile/Library/SMS
6. transfer "sms.db" & the "Attachments" folder to your computer
RESTORE PHASE
7. itunes restore to 9.1/9.2
8. jailbreak device
9. install ifile/filza/openssh/Apple File Conduit 2/etc and and navigate to /var/mobile/Library/SMS
10. delete all the files inside the SMS folder
11. transfer the "sms.db" & the "Attachments" folder you previously backed up to your computer
12. Make sure the "Owner" permissions are set as "mobile", and NOT "root". Otherwise, your messages app will not be able to access the database
13. respring/reboot the device
14. your previous SMS should be back
Note: The restore from itunes backup is a necessary step to make the SMS.db file compatible with a different iOS version. There may or may not be changes to the database in a new iOS version.
Well, Syncmate is more of a sync, so what would happen is that it would sync the messages on your phone to whatever device you wish and then you'd restore and then could choose to sync the messages back to your device.
Not really a backup, but more like moving the furniture around to clean.
It's worked for me in the past but I have not used it lately. I did use it two years ago to get my wife's data off her Windows phone and temporarily on to the Mac at work then transferred it to her iPhone. So, that worked anyway.
But yeah, the other route you described is all I can see to do it if nothing else works.
There may be a way to use iFile on a JB iPhone to move the SMS database but I have no clue where it's located.
Kind of a shame concerning Apple here. I had an inexpensive backup app for my Windows phone in 2009 and it allowed me to restore data down to a single file from an entire backup. Yet, an iDevice is all or nothing in 2015.
If you're ever interested in how to restore SMS manually
Same here, I don't see why apple does not implement selective restore. It doesn't seem like it would be difficult
It would make it easier if apple added SMS backup to the cloud. SMS is one of the big reasons (from what I've observed) I see people lean towards restoring from backup than starting fresh