3 Methods to Backup iPhone Messages

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 backup 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 12, Then you are also supposed to do the iPhone SMS backup before upgrading to iOS 12. In this article, we are going to tell you how to backup 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 backup iPhone text messages/MMS/iMessages 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 - Backup & Restore (iOS). This tool empowers you to preview and selectively backup all text messages, MMS, iMessages with attachements to your computer in 1 click. You can also export these iPhone backup messages to your PC or Mac.

dr.fone - Backup & Restore (iOS)

Selectively backup iPhone messages in 3 minutes!

Allow to preview and restore any item from the backup to a device.
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 12.
Fully compatible with Windows 10 or Mac 10.14.

Available on: Windows Mac

Start Download

3981454 people have downloaded it

Steps to backup iPhone text messages by dr.fone

Step 1. In order to backup iPhone messages, you can firstly connect your iPhone to a computer via a USB cable. Launch dr.fone on your Windows PC or Mac. Select "Backup & Restore". After that, you will have the primary window.

iPhone SMS backup

Step 2. Select the type of data "Messages & Attachments" to backup, then click button "Backup". Well, you can also select to backup iPhone notes, contacts, photos, Facebook messages and many other data.

backup iphone messages

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 it's 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.

how to backup messages on iphone

Start Download Start Download

Pros and Cons: You can preview and selectively backup 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 you iPhone SMS backup problems.

Method 2. How to backup messages on iPhone via iTunes

As you know, iTunes can backup 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, iMesages, MMS. Worse still, iTunes backup file is unreadable. You can't read it or print it out. Any way, 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 find the backups section. Tick This computer and click Back Up Now.

Step 5. iTunes start to backup your iPhone data, including iPhone MMS, SMS, iMessages. It takes you some time. Wait until it comes to the end. Find your iPhone backup location here >>

how to backup messages on iphone with iTunes

Pros and Cons: This method is also very easy. But you can only backup the whole device in a time, no perview and no selectivity during the iPhone text message backup process. Usually, the whole device has lots of data, it need much time to finish the whole backup process. So it is inefficient since most users may only want to backup part of the data.

Method 3. How to backup iPhone messages via iCloud

Many people are comfuseded whether iCloud can backup 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 iCloud screen, you will see many icons, like Contacts, Notes. Turn on them if you also want to backup them. Then, tap Merge.

Step 4. Find Storage & Backup option and tap it.

Step 5. Turn on iCloud Backup and tap Back Up Now.

how to backup messages on iphone with iCloud

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 an extra software on your computer. You can finish all the process on your phone. But, you only have 5 GB free storage on your iCloud, it will be full some day if you don't buy more iCloud storage. And you can't access and view to your iCloud backup messages. iCloud will backup all of your iPhone SMS in 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 backup iPhone text messages to computer or cloud. But what if I'd like to backup my iPhone messages to another device? In order to get it through, we find that dr.fone - Switch can solve your problem. This software allows data transfer from different devices run 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 iPhone XS/ iPhone XS Max

how to backup messages from iphone to another device