How to Back up All Messages on Android
Lately, I’ve been particularly obsessed with backing up everything, and the latest thing I’ve been paying attention to is messages. However, it’s been several generations of my flagship Android smartphones since I’ve backed up anything, so now I’m frantically backing up everything from 2019 onward.
Back in 2017, with Android 8.0 Oreo, Android was supposed to fix the way it backed up data and messages. Google recently improved this mechanism by moving to Google One, its universal subscription and cloud storage service. While data backup has improved, it still remains a true “black box.” It’s difficult to verify what was backed up, and even more difficult to view the data.
I’m taking backups into my own hands again , just like in the old days of Android. In fact, one of those old apps, SMS Backup and Restore , is still one of the best for backing up text messages, and it’s included in this guide to backing up messages on Android. I’ll also tell you how to create backup archives for additional messaging apps, including WhatsApp and Signal, two frequently used third-party messaging apps.
Start with Google One.
By default, your phone uses Google One for backup if Google Messages is your primary messaging app. (Samsung users can choose Samsung Messages, which backs up to the Samsung cloud .) Overall, it’s a set-it-and-forget-it system that saves SMS, RCS, and MMS messages, call history, contacts, and device settings to Google Drive. (Photos and videos are backed up via Google Photos.)
You can check your backup status to see when it was last created. Open your phone’s Settings panel, then find the Backup option. If this is your first time doing this, instructions on how to enable backup will appear on the screen. Otherwise, you’ll be able to see what’s already been backed up. If you’re using Pixel Launcher, scroll down to find a list of backup details. Tap it to see what’s in your storage.
The maximum backup size is 25 MB and doesn’t count toward your Google Drive quota. (Google Photos does, but that’s essentially a different product.) Only the most recent backup is stored at a time. Anything prior to that is completely deleted.
Google One’s backup method is merely a “sync,” not a true data archive. If you accidentally delete a conversation from Messages, its backup will also be deleted from the cloud, making it impossible to restore. Google makes it clear, even in its developer documentation , that access to backup data is not available to the user or other apps on the device. So what’s a user to do? Refer to the tried and true method: SMS backup and restore.
Setting up SMS backup and restore
I use native Android apps like SMS Backup & Restore for full backups because it’s still the only way to easily view saved messages and call logs. The app treats your text messages as a database and stores them in XML format for later analysis. SMS Backup & Restore was once a favorite of independent developers, though it was acquired by SyncTech in late 2017, which partly helped it survive for so long.
Setting it up is very simple. Download and install the app from the Google Play Store . The app is free but has ads, or you can pay a one-time fee of $6 to remove ads and unlock additional features, such as more cloud storage. Then, grant the app access to your contacts and messages. Tap the backup settings option and select “Messages.” (You can also enable call logs if desired.) Then, choose a backup location. I back up to Google Drive in a separate archive folder. Dropbox, OneDrive, and WebDAV are also options.
The SMS backup and restore feature offers several backup options. First, you don’t have to back up your entire Messages app. You can choose to back up individual conversations. However, you don’t have to do this constantly. If you need to save a single conversation, the SMS backup and restore feature allows you to select it and back it up to a location of your choice in XML format.
SMS Backup & Restore also allows you to view all data after synchronization. The easiest way is through the mobile app, which allows you to search for messages, and through the SyncTech web viewer , where you can upload the generated XML file and view it as if it were your phone’s messaging app. SyncTech claims that all processing occurs in the browser, and nothing is uploaded to the servers. If you prefer not to download your messages through the web viewer, you can try opening them with Excel. And if you’re an especially advanced user, there are many third-party XML file readers, although not all of them are fully compatible with the way SMS Backup & Restore stores logs.
WhatsApp and Signal
These days, half of my digital life is spent on a few messaging apps, primarily WhatsApp and Signal. On WhatsApp, I communicate with friends who are connected to Wi-Fi or live on the other side of the world, while on Signal, I have private chats with my local parenting group.
WhatsApp can create a local backup to your phone’s internal storage at a set time daily. This is the most direct way to manage your WhatsApp chat data. You’ll find your data in the WhatsApp app database on your device’s internal storage. WhatsApp can also automatically create backups to Google Drive on Android devices. Unfortunately, Google has started counting WhatsApp backups toward your Google Drive storage quota. However, the app does show you how much space you have left in your Drive account if you back up this way.
If you haven’t set up backups yet, this feature is available under Chat Backup in the app settings. You can choose the backup frequency and whether to include videos. You can also choose whether backups are end-to-end encrypted. (Note that this option is disabled by default.) If you need to export specific conversations, you can do so from the Chat History menu. You can then read these WhatsApp backups by exporting individual chats as text files directly from the app.
Signal’s backups are a bit more complicated. Because it’s built on the principle of extreme privacy, it prioritizes local backups and doesn’t back up to the cloud. Only recently, in the latest beta version for Android devices, did Signal add a one-click backup feature. And technically, it’s still being finalized.
But you can use it if you want. In the Signal app on Android, go to “Settings,” then scroll down to the “Backup” section. Next to it, you’ll see a large “Beta” icon. Tap it, and Signal will create a backup of your conversations with full end-to-end encryption. The recovery key is a 64-character code that will help you restore the backup. If you lose it, you won’t be able to recover your messages.
Signal doesn’t offer the option to back up your data to third-party services. Instead, it backs up media files and text messages for the past 45 days for free. Backing up more messages costs $2 per month. 100GB of photo storage is also included.
Since these are encrypted files, they are difficult to parse without first decrypting them and converting them into a readable XML file. For further analysis, you’ll also need to save the archive locally . Small apps like Signal Message Exporter and Signal Back can help with this if you’re particularly concerned about a readable log.
Backing up isn’t a one-time task. It’s something you should develop into a habit. The best way to ensure the safety of your backups is to make a habit of checking them regularly. Enable cloud backup for Google One, WhatsApp, and Signal, and then set the SMS backup and restore feature to run weekly or, if you use this app less frequently, monthly.