3 Methods to Backup iPhone Messages
Mar 09, 2023 • Filed to: Backup & Restore Data • Proven solutions
Text a lot and now your SMS mailbox is full? To receive new text messages, you have to delete old ones. However, these text messages may record happiness and tears about your life. Once you delete these text messages, you will lose them forever.
In this case, it's a necessity to back up iPhone messages to computer or cloud first. Then you can delete all of them as you like. It's frustrating. And also, when you are going to upgrade your iPhone to iOS 15/16, Then you are also supposed to do the iPhone SMS backup before upgrading to iOS 15/16. In this article, we are going to tell you how to back up messages on iPhone. Now, read on every method, and choose an ideal one to do iPhone SMS backup.
- Method 1. Selectively Backup iPhone text messages to PC or Mac
- Method 2. How to backup messages on iPhone via iTunes
- Method 3. How to backup iPhone messages via iCloud
- Tips: How to backup iPhone messages to another device
Method 1. Selectively Backup iPhone text messages to PC or Mac
You might like to back up iPhone text messages/MMS/iMessage as a printable file, so you can easily read it and use it as a proof for something. Here is a right iPhone message backup tool named Dr.Fone - Phone Backup (iOS). This tool empowers you to preview and selectively back up all text messages, MMS, and iMessages with attachments to your computer in 1 click. You can also export these iPhone backup messages to your PC or Mac.

Dr.Fone - Phone Backup (iOS)
Selectively or Automatically backup iPhone messages in 3 minutes!
- Allow to preview and restore any item from the backup to a device.
- Back up iPhone/iPad data to the computer without a lighting cable.
- Export what you want from the backup to your computer.
- No data loss on devices during the restore.
- Works for all iOS devices. Compatible with the latest iOS 16.
- Fully compatible with Windows 10 or Mac 10.15.
Steps to backup iPhone text messages by Dr.Fone
Step 1. In order to back up iPhone messages, you can first connect your iPhone to a computer via a USB cable. Launch Dr.Fone on your Windows PC or Mac. Select "Phone Backup". After that, you will have the primary window.
Step 2. Select the type of data "Messages & Attachments" to backup, then click the button "Backup". Well, you can also select to backup iPhone notes, contacts, photos, Facebook messages, and many other data.
Step 3. After the iPhone SMS backup is completed, just choose the checkbox "Messages" and "Messages Attachments", then click the button "Export to PC" to back the messages and their attachments to your computer.
Note: You can also click the "Printer" icon on the top right of the window to print your iPhone text messages.
Pros and Cons: You can preview and selectively back up your iPhone messages in just 3 steps. It is flexible, fast, and easy to handle. The program also allows you to directly print your iPhone text messages after the iPhone messages backup. But you should download it on your computer to get through all of your iPhone SMS backup problems.
Method 2. How to backup messages on iPhone via iTunes
As you know, iTunes can back up almost all files on your iPhone, including SMS, MMS, and iMessages. If you're looking for a free tool to do iPhone SMS, iMessage, and MMS backup, iTunes comes to you. However, you have to know that iTunes doesn't allow you selectively backup iPhone SMS, iMessage, or MMS. Worse still, the iTunes backup file is unreadable. You can't read it or print it out. Anyway, to backup iPhone messages, iMessages, and MMS, please follow the tutorial.
How to backup messages on iPhone with iTunes
- Step 1. Run iTunes on your computer and use a USB cable to connect your iPhone to the computer.
- Step 2. After detected, your iPhone shows up in the left sidebar of iTunes.
- Step 3. Under DEVICES, click your iPhone. Then, your iPhone control panel will be shown on the right.
- Step 4. Click Summary and scroll down the window until finding the backups section. Tick This computer and click Back Up Now.
- Step 5. iTunes start to back up your iPhone data, including iPhone MMS, SMS, and iMessages. It takes you some time. Wait until it comes to the end. Find your iPhone backup location here >>
Pros and Cons: This method is also very easy. But you can only back up the whole device at a time, with no preview and no selectivity during the iPhone text message backup process. Usually, the whole device has lots of data, it needs much time to finish the whole backup process. So it is inefficient since most users may only want to back up part of the data.
Method 3. How to backup iPhone messages via iCloud
Many people are confused about whether iCloud can back up iPhone messages. Of course, it can. Apart from SMS, it also backs up iPhone iMessages and MMS. Below is the full guidance. Follow me.
How to backup messages on iPhone with iCloud
Step 1. Tap Settings on your iPhone. On Setting screen, scroll down to find iCloud and tap it.
Step 2. Enter your iCloud accounts. Be sure that your WiFi network is turned on.
Step 3. On the iCloud screen, you will see many icons, like Contacts, and Notes. Turn on them if you also want to back up them. Then, tap Merge.
Step 4. Find Storage & Backup option and tap it.
Step 5. Turn on iCloud Backup and tap Back Up Now.
Step 6. Wait until the iPhone SMS backup process is complete
Pros and Cons: Backing up iPhone text messages with iCloud could be convenient since you don't need to download extra software on your computer. You can finish all the processes on your phone. But, you only have 5 GB of free storage on your iCloud, it will be full someday if you don't buy more iCloud storage. And you can't access and view your iCloud backup messages. iCloud will backup all of your iPhone SMS at a time, you are also not allowed to backup some particular iPhone messages. Finally, as we all know, cloud backup is usually slower than local backup with Dr.Fone or iTunes.
Tips: How to backup iPhone messages to another device
From the above introduction, we can know it is easy to back up iPhone text messages to computer or cloud. But what if I'd like to back up my iPhone messages to another device? In order to get it through, we find that Dr.Fone - Phone Transfer can solve your problem. This software allows data transfer from different devices running different OS. You can read this article to get the steps about iPhone messages backup between different iPhone devices: 3 Methods to Transfer Data from Old iPhone to New iPhone
iPhone Message
- Secrets on iPhone Message Deletion
- Recover iPhone Messages
- Backup iPhone Messages
- Save iPhone Messages
- Transfer iPhone Messages
- More iPhone Message Tricks
Alice MJ
staff Editor