Database Info

[GUIDE] How to import iPhone SMS to Android

This is a reference guide on how to import an iPhones SMS messages to Android SMS by obtaining the iPhone backup file located on a Windows based PC that is Sync'd whenever the iPhone is plugged into the machine.
1) Locate the directory where the iPhone backup is stored typically here (The AppData directory is typically hidden by default)
Code:
C:\users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\mobilesync\Backup
2) The actual directory that the backups are stored in is in a naming structure that is alpha-numerical, 40 charectors
3) The file you are looking for starts with 3d07, sometimes there are 3 of these files, you will be needing the larger of the 3.
4) Copy the file to your SDcard on your Android phone.
5) From here there are two ways you can view the messages.
a. By using SQLite Editor which is a pay app. You browse the SDcard and view the 3d07 file.
b. You can use iSMS2Droid in conjunction with SMS Backup and Restore to browse to the 3d07 file and import / view / or restore the messages straight to your Android phone.
Hope this guide helps anyone trying to merge over from iPhone.

Cool guide! Thanks.

Thanks for this guide but how about if i want to do opposite... moving from android to iphone...???

zerocold256 said:
Thanks for this guide but how about if i want to do opposite... moving from android to iphone...???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thee is a program called Backuptrans Android SMS to iPhone may help.

thanks!

Thank You
Thank you very much that method worked fine for me, But;
This is what I had to do in case you're facing the same issue:
**Please note that I have i9300 running CM10
I tried recovering my SMS using MyBackup Pro, Super Backup and even PC sync with old iphone backup and didn’t work: the result was messed up messages, like most sent messages are recorded as received and vice versa
I tried the method you mentioned; although it seemed to fix the mix up caused by the previous methods, it tend to divide conversations,
Finally I was able to successfully restore all the sms but on several stages; meaning that I restored specific periods of time (SMS back and restore have this option) like a year maybe at a time and you get the option to check for duplicates while doing so

Sorry for raking up this old thread, but I had iSMS2droid crash when reading from the iPhone backup. There are 3500 messages in the backup, that was done with the iPhone running 6.0.1 retail. My android phone is GS3 running a touchwiz JB ROM. I emailed the developer and still awaiting a response. Can you guys guide me? Thanks.

bsbharath1987 said:
Sorry for raking up this old thread, but I had iSMS2droid crash when reading from the iPhone backup. There are 3500 messages in the backup, that was done with the iPhone running 6.0.1 retail. My android phone is GS3 running a touchwiz JB ROM. I emailed the developer and still awaiting a response. Can you guys guide me? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. iSMS2droid crashes, and the website doesn't work properly anymore. It appears that iOS6 changed the SMS table format so none of the data is in the same places it used to be.

Hey, I had this problem too. For all googlers, here's a webapp that supports iOS6. Works great, check out the instructions.
http://www.ismsgrab.com

Thanks a lot for the guide!!

thanks for cool guide:laugh:

Thanks a lot. My friend just asked me how this can be done. Well, question answered then. Thanks again. :good:

You can try this way and see if it works:
1. Use iCloud to backup your SMS
2. Then connect Android phone to your computer
3. Open the iCloud backup file and copy those SMS to Android phone
More info about iCloud backup you can visit URL: support.apple.com/kb/HT4859

Thank you for the instruction it's been very helpful!:good:

You may try to fix it with Phone Transfer. Read the guide below, it helps you in transferring SMS from iPhone to Android.
https://transferphone.com/transfer-iphone-sms-to-android.html

Hi !
It is unfortunately officially impossible to Mod Edit: Links removed import iPhone SMS to Android[/URL]. BUT, there are two things you can do :
You can easily fetch contacts, mail and calendar events from iCloud using CardDAV and CalDAV sync Android apps.
I also used to hear about a software looking for all your data in your iPhone or iPhone backup to put everything it cans on you new Android phone.
I am using a Galaxy SIII mini for my Android apps dev. and the 1st solution works perfectly.
Hoping to have helped you.

thanks for this guide!

Thanks a lot for the guide..
Can I delete the 3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e0... file from my android phone after restore is completed successfully ?

Re: How to import iPhone SMS to Android
You can start up with extracting all the messages file first. In order to do this, just explore iTunes and simply connect your iPhone and the computer. On the left, you can see a bar, just hit a right click to your iPhone and choose 'Backup'.

I cannot say that these two new phones are better than the android but my new iPhone 5S looks way too premium than my old android (samsung galaxy s3). Btw, I was too lazy to transfer all the data manually from one phone to another so I did it via desktop utility:
It was quick and easy.

[Q] How to backup sms with emoji?

Hi!
I have been searching for this on Google and in the forums, and I cannot find any answers. I see that the most of the sms/mms backup apps are using .XML files, and I read that they do not support emoji and would corrupt the .xml file if I try to restore it.
I have only had to restore sms one time and that time i used go sms pro since I read that they support emoji backup even though they didnt so my 14000 sms got corrupted when I tried to restore, also tried with Titanium without anyluck or maybe I did something wrong (luckly I had nandroid backup and didnt update ROM), this time i want to make sure that this would not happen again and I want to update rom without loosing my sms. I feel there is a simple solution, but I cannot find it.
Would be nice if someone could help out a newb

Bump

Dns94 said:
Bump
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This

I'd like to know toO!

Why do they have to make this so damn hard. Why can't I just drag a file from old android phone and drop it in new android phone? What is the best method to COMPLETELY backup and restore SMS/MMS on non rooted phones?

Try this app (find the latest beta from release folder) : https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/blob/master/README.md#readme
Used for years and did several restore while changing my rom. It push the backup into a Gmail label.
From what I saw, it saves pictures. So I guess it saves also emoji.
Hope it helps.

baudbox said:
Try this app (find the latest beta from release folder) : https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/blob/master/README.md#readme
Used for years and did several restore while changing my rom. It push the backup into a Gmail label.
From what I saw, it saves pictures. So I guess it saves also emoji.
Hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll give it a shot. I tired SMS Backup & Restore but for some reason when it restored them (which worked for the most part) it screwed up a bunch of the time stamps.

One year later and no good solution to my problem?

A solution I found
Dns94 said:
One year later and no good solution to my problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this thread was years ago, but I came across it while trying and failing to fix this issue, and after a ridiculous amount of time investigating I have a solution finally. I thought if I posted it here then others with the same problem might come across it too and it could help people.
Assuming you already have "SMS Backup and Restore" (though confusingly there are two apps in the Play Store called that, you want the one with the green icon by SyncTech Pty Ltd).
Select "Back Up Now" and send it to Dropbox (or another place, I found Dropbox the easiest). Most importantly though, click on" Advanced Options" and turn the "Emojis & special characters" slider OFF. xml doesn't understand emojis, and it will corrupt the file and cause "XML Parsing Error" when you try to open it.
There's an extra optional step to make the file easier to read (puts it in a nice table without bare code everywhere) but this website won't let me post the code because it contains two links (and because I'm a very new member, signed up just to write this). This step involves adding a file called "sms.xsl" and adding a line of code to the xml file to make it talk to the xsl file, but I can't find anywhere to download it with a quick Google search.
Let me know if anyone wants any more details.
This all worked for me very well at least, I hope it does for others.

[Completed] Restore point not working - incompatible software versions - downgrade?

I was to turn in my phone (Sony Xperia Z1 compact) for a warranty issue (battery acting up). The guy in the store told me there would be a factory reset at the service point so I went home, used the built in Sony approved "Backup & Restore" app (with current experience - DO NOT USE IT!!!). To be safe I created 3 different restore points (just in case) and stored to my SD card. I backed up everything, contact list, messages, photos etc using the sony app. To be extra safe I did install the google + app to backup my contact list (wich of course also failed, it only backup up 6 of my ~500 contacts, don´t ask me why).
Got the phone back today. Battery replaced (nice!). Software upgraded - Didn´t ask for that but lets see. Went home. Popped in my SD card with my restore points, selected to restore and got the message: "Cannot restore - Selected backup records cannot be used du to incompatible software versions. Please select a more recent backup file". After searching the internet and spending an hour chatting with the sony support it seems I´m pretty much screwed. That (useless) app appears to ONLY be working if used on the exact same phone model with the exact same OS version.
The guy at Sony tells me that the only way to handle this is to unlock the boot loader wich will void my warranty. I asked if it was possible to just pull the contacts and messages from the backup file but no, according to him that app stores the backup up stuff in a non-typical way wich is impossible to reach unless you have the correct version on the phone.
It seems like there are a lot of smartheads in this forum, does anyone have an idea on how to either pull the vital data from the backup or any other idea? The boot loader unlock option is not very tempting since it will void my warranty, not give me automatic updates in the future and on top of that there is a risk I´ll screw up my phone for good.
As a last comment, it would have been nice if the App informed you about the fact that it would only work on the same OS-version, that would for sure have made me think twice and made at least one backup using another system but no. I found threads about this as early as december 2013, still users will continue to loose all their data. A simple popup with that information would save a lot of people a lot of headache.
frågan skall komma upp här: http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/xda-assist

You have already received an answer here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/xda-assist/restore-incompatible-software-versions-t3418488
Thread closed.

Backup and Restore ALL Accounts on android

GOAL - a universal backup and restore solution that can take ALL device accounts and ALL their related passwords - back them up - and restore them to ANY version of android - including Phones, Tablets, and Emulators such as bluestacks, memu, nox etc. even from different android versions.
This is primarily to get all EMAILS - google - outlook - etc loaded into a new device *This is NOT for apps as there are plenty of solutions for apps already but none for ACCOUNTS
This software should basically have a database, preferably in an easy to edit CSV format - which would never need to change as it would always have ACCOUNT_TYPE,USERNAME,PASSWORD,RANDOM_DATA
-you could manually populate this via your computer or you could have the android software export it via coding magic. Maybe use a different format and have it load a spreadsheet or a different database type...
Importing would be trickier- you'd have to have a drop down asking questions like - What android version are you importing to- so that the code could be properly inserted...
I intend to ask for advice here and see what solutions you all have; I will edit this first topic to help others if a solution exists.
Some people spend 50 hours of labor installing hundreds of apps on their phone; each needing custom configured, many require having an Account to access data through the app.
What if you have to load 50+ emails into the phone; each of them having huge complicated passwords.
What if you are always buying new devices, changing roms and having to set this all up again?
=Some Solutions exist but none have worked for me.
1. Built in google 'set up new device' -
This only seems to work when you have reset your phone.. once the phone is active and you've actually used it -- there appears to be no way to turn this on and attempt to bring new accounts over...
q. How can you activate this after the fact?
If you have more than a few accounts on the device, say.. 4... maybe you have 20 or 40 email accounts loaded.. it is almost guaranteed to fail.
q. What causes it to fail? Is there any work around.
If you are on android versions too far apart its also likely to fail
q. Why? is there any work around.
*Here is a site with code related to the account transfer API; I'm not sure how accurate it is:
Account Transfer API | Android Developers
developer.android.com
2. Samsung Smart switch
This only copies ONE account - but it also does a fine job of moving text messages, SOME apps and other info over.
*Is there any way to get it to copy all email accounts; and other random app accounts to the new device?
3. Titanium backup - for non root and root.
I've played with this numerous times over the past 10 years and never successfully. I dont think it is capable of taking all accounts and backing up / restoring to different devices.
More to be added later.

Reserved for random info so I can update later;

One month later and no replies...
Anyone?
1. Is there any app on the planet that can do this - or close? ((samsung smart switch - sometimes - though it mostly fails -- Googles built in set up - which fails 95% of the time) - I know of no other solutions.
2. Is there any desire for this? have any of you been annoyed with the menial task of setting this stuff up again and again?

another month goes by.. now I have a new android tablet.. and guess what?
Samsung smart switch wont copy my accounts...
I cant seem to get the built in google 'set up device' to start == and I'm not looking forward to adding 50 email accounts and various other accounts into this manually.. thats gonna take ages...
Buying a new device every couple months.. is a grueling task when it comes to account transfers...
Nobody has any suggestions on a solution for this? I'm searching around randomly again and finding Nothing.

what is your concern?? reading your thread give me headache

I have the same issue. I am "bored" in getting another mobile because i have to setup from beggining soooo many things

IIRC then account details are stored in SQLite database named accounts.db, its location depends on Android version.
Wi-Fi passwords are stored in file named wpa supplicant.conf.

@jwoegerbauer thanks for the tip. using your filename I found a tutorial that listed the location as follows:
/data/system_de/0/accounts_de.db
I've verified this on Nox; my bluestacks still isnt rooted and it seems the phones I have with all email accounts loaded == are not rooted either== I'm going to need to find a workaround for that or make time to root bluestacks to get the account data out of it...
Problem is;
1 there are no passwords included here. Where are they? mine are all crazy long and I have no clue what they are... its very time consuming to manually input them via my password managing tool.
2 Once I export; and change the CSV into a spreadsheet to include all the other missing email /google accounts; how do I replace the accounts_de.db file on each device
3. Why isnt there an app that can do this already; lol?
EDIT
Titanium backup does have an 'accounts' export option that -sorta - works... problem is how picky the app is about using root plus super SU and refuses to work with Magisk (sometimes) or will constantly crash on (some) devices - or will fail to export/import unless you try (5 different file managers that can eventually figure out how to import their file type) - or is otherwise NEEDING root access to function...
Would be nice if a solution existed via ADB or simply in an un rooted device to do this; sorta like how google ''set up nearby device'' was supposed to work (and will; if you use only 5 or less accounts... but its also buggy and fails)

Any ideas on how we can export/import accounts?
Still no successful solution.
1. Notes regarding Titanium:
I've tried about 15 versions of bluestacks using android 4.4.2 and have had mild success with titanium to backup/restore =
however it seems to randomly restore less than all the accounts (missing a few different ones each time)
it also seems to randomly miss the google password tokens randomly =forcing me to log into 10% of the imported accounts with each restore.
It also seems to fail 100% when trying to restore a bluestacks 4.4.2 accounts file on to android 7 bluestacks; or nox / or memu
It has limited success importing into a proper non emulated tablet (again missing about 60% of the accounts randomly)
all in all Titanium doesn't appear to be a good solution.
2. Perhaps a direct edit of the Accounts DB file would be wiser;
I've attempted to export it a few times and am not sure yet how to edit it ...
HeidiSQL has errors when accessing the file
Oracle's sql developer is WORSE; most of the text is gibberish.
*Any ideas on how to edit this?
3. Other xda searches lead me to:
The google password isn't a real password. After first successful authentication, an Auth Token is downloaded to device which is stored in accounts.db.
From the Auth Token is impossible to guess the password.
So I guess I answered my own question on that... I was hoping the passwords were stored on the device database so I could import/export them via a text editor.
4.
*File manager for super users allows one to explore and edit (to a point) a sql database - but one can not add new entries; only edit existing entries.
one can only export to csv; not import.
so this is only a partial solution.
5. an open source XDA solution looks promising but will not work.
Each OnAndBackup version uses different file extensions that are not compatible between versions... so yuo can't backup one android version and restore to another.
OAndBackupX is a fork of the popular open source backup app for Android
Looking for an open source solution to backup individual apps and their data? OAndBackupX is a handy Android app for the job. Check it out!
www.xda-developers.com

Blombardo said:
2. Perhaps a direct edit of the Accounts DB file would be wiser;
I've attempted to export it a few times and am not sure yet how to edit it ...
HeidiSQL has errors when accessing the file
Oracle's sql developer is WORSE; most of the text is gibberish.
*Any ideas on how to edit this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In post #7 you were told it's a SQLite database. Hence use a SQLite browser.
Downloads - DB Browser for SQLite
sqlitebrowser.org

It appears that the art of editing the database file on this is more complicated than it should be...
1. Taking the old DB file from 4.4.2 with a million accounts loaded... -- Export the 'accounts' table into csv
2. taking the new DB file from 7.1.1 with one account loaded - delete existing and then import the old 'accounts' table -
Swap original .db file with new edited one...
and congrats you too have a bootloop...
Anyone know how to PROPERLY export / import the accounts information ?
The sql table otherwise appears the same.. but I'm by no means an expert on these databases so perhaps I missed something simple.
Can't wait to see what happens from nox to bluestacks to memu to real versions of android on multiple devices with multiple android versions...
There HAS to be a better way to do this.?
Edit: 20 plus hours and many weeks into this problem
delving deeper into Titaniums site they have a suggestion for use on emulators that I did not notice; I will try and report back.
12. I have an Android device that is x86 based, and rooted. Can I use Titanium Backup ?​
YES. Please ensure that you have a working BusyBox on your device and make the following changes in TB preferences:
enable the “Force use external BusyBox” option (under Troubleshooting) then hit MENU -> Reload application.

1. I've noticed there are two places for saved account info; I still have no success in getting my edited database to properly recognize in the emulator.
system DE on older 4.4.2
and
system CE on 7.1 (also has the DE folder)
2. No luck on titanium either.
a. I've tried making busy box work on the emulator; it pretends to install successfully but when running shell commands it doesnt seem to work; therefore the number 12 from Titanium FAQ is something I can't seem to accomplish either... so Titanium will not work yet; maybe due to the busybox fail.

Blombardo said:
@jwoegerbauer thanks for the tip. using your filename I found a tutorial that listed the location as follows:
/data/system_de/0/accounts_de.db
I've verified this on Nox; my bluestacks still isnt rooted and it seems the phones I have with all email accounts loaded == are not rooted either== I'm going to need to find a workaround for that or make time to root bluestacks to get the account data out of it...
Problem is;
1 there are no passwords included here. Where are they? mine are all crazy long and I have no clue what they are... its very time consuming to manually input them via my password managing tool.
2 Once I export; and change the CSV into a spreadsheet to include all the other missing email /google accounts; how do I replace the accounts_de.db file on each device
3. Why isnt there an app that can do this already; lol?
EDIT
Titanium backup does have an 'accounts' export option that -sorta - works... problem is how picky the app is about using root plus super SU and refuses to work with Magisk (sometimes) or will constantly crash on (some) devices - or will fail to export/import unless you try (5 different file managers that can eventually figure out how to import their file type) - or is otherwise NEEDING root access to function...
Would be nice if a solution existed via ADB or simply in an un rooted device to do this; sorta like how google ''set up nearby device'' was supposed to work (and will; if you use only 5 or less accounts... but its also buggy and fails)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip just used Titanium Backup to transfer accounts backup generated from one phone to another (using the generated backup files) both N916K rooted with Magisk version 23.0 (23000) without issues!

So is there any Progress or Solutions found yet?
A good thing would be to see all the accounts and then retype them manually if needed.
Else it would be much better to have something like Smart Switch.
Problem I noticed with SmartSwitch, when you try to transfer the Accounts. Samsung trys to grab and upload all the accounts to their server!! Why? I don't know, but it always asks for Internetconnection etc. ONLY when you want to transfer accounts, everything else works more or less.. some appdata not included sadly anyway.
Swift Backup doesn't seem to or did someone manage it to work with it?
Tipps and possible Solutions would be greatly appriciated.
It seems to be especially problematic with Android 12...

Hello, I'm having the same problem. I'm "bored" with obtaining a new phone because I have to set up so many things from scratch. real estate istanbul

A shame there still doesn't seem to be a good solution for this. TB only tries to backup the non-existent location, while the correct is /data/system_de/0/accounts_de.db
Manually moving just puts me into a bootloop, even after setting the correct permissions.

I dont know if this works, someone should test it.
GitHub - cluk33/android-multiuser-backup: A set of scripts to backup and restore apps and data of multiuser android devices.
A set of scripts to backup and restore apps and data of multiuser android devices. - GitHub - cluk33/android-multiuser-backup: A set of scripts to backup and restore apps and data of multiuser andr...
github.com

akhilkhan said:
I dont know if this works, someone should test it.
GitHub - cluk33/android-multiuser-backup: A set of scripts to backup and restore apps and data of multiuser android devices.
A set of scripts to backup and restore apps and data of multiuser android devices. - GitHub - cluk33/android-multiuser-backup: A set of scripts to backup and restore apps and data of multiuser andr...
github.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I spent hours trying to get the script to work, but it will not backup anything in A13. I even disabled DFE on the device and started it over to test.

I could really use some help. Backup before reset, but restore failed. Need to recover texts form a backup Google Driv doesn't see, but it is a backup

I had to reset my phone and I backed it up to both Samsung Cloud (Galazy A5 2017 using Android OS 8) and to Google Drive. Unfortunately the restore failed. What's worse, is that I was out at sea at the time and now both Samsung and Google only see a backup from AFTER the reset.
There is 1 possibility. I can see a backup on Google Drive, but it doesn't show up as a backup in Google Drive, so I can't choose it. The date on the zip file shows that it's from before the reset, but for some reason Google Drive doesn't recognize it as a backup. I've looked inside and it definitely has my phones files in it with "last modified" dates from before the reset.
Sad thing is, all I want are my texts! To put it more bluntly, I need my texts. :/
Samsung was no help because their backup is now after the reset. I haven't had any luck anywhere and I've been trying to find a solution or an answer for over a week now.
I copy/pasted the backup that Google doesn't see as a backup (which start with the word "takeout" followed by date and time) to my PC as an extra precaution but it's still on my Google Drive. Of course, right now that's useless to me since Google Drive doesn't see it as a backup for some reason.
So, simply put, how to get my phone to use this backup? Either from Google Drive, or from my PC. I don't care if I have to trick the phone into thinking I'm transferring the data to a new phone, and if it comes down to it, if the only way to do it is to root the damn phone then I'll do it. I'll be getting a new phone soon anyways.
Unfortunately I don't even know which file holds the text messages (cell texts, not FB messenger) so while I'm guessing the OS wouldn't let me just copy paste it over, I don't even know what I'm looking for.
Hell, I'd even take all the information saved as a text file if that was my last resort.
I'm seriously begging here. Can someone please help me!? This has been a huge stressors on me. I'll be damn sure to make a seperate, special backup of my cell texts from now on, but for now, I need a solution on how to use the info in those "takeout" zip files. There's actually 2, but I don't know if both are from 1 backup, or 2.
Thank you.
DM