How to Backup Text Messages on iPhone? 4 Free Ways

Text messages carry important information and even, good memories. Unfortunately, you can encounter data loss situation on your iPhone due to accidental deletion, software updation, virus attack, and much more. If you don’t have a backup for your device data like text messages, then you may end up losing your important messages forever. That’s why backing up important text messages on the iPhone is quite important.

Here in this article, we will introduce with several free ways to help you learn how to backup your text messages on the iPhone.

Part 1: Can You Backup Text Messages on iPhone?

If you’re wondering “is it possible to backup text messages on iPhone”, then the simple answer is YES. Apple has provided iCloud and iTunes as ways to backup your text messages on the iPhone. In fact, there are also several other ways available besides Apple’s official ways to backup messages on iPhone.

To prevent unexpected data loss on iPhone until it is too late to restore, you should better backup important text messages.

Part 2: 4 Ways to Backup Text Messages on iPhone:

Following are 4 ways that are free to backup text messages iPhone. Let’s give a closure look at each way and start backing up text messages.

Way 1: Best Way to Backup iPhone Message to Computer

If you want the most reliable way to backup your iPhone text messages, then we recommended you a free iPhone backup software. It is software designed primarily to manage your iPhone as you want. It comes with free “device backup and restore” feature that can help you backup your important iPhone/iPad/iPod messages to a computer with one click of a button.

So, get iOS Data Manager from its official site on your computer and follow the below step-by-step guide to learn how to backup iPhone messages using the software.

Free Download For Win 10/8.1/8/7/XP Secure Download Free Download For macOS 10.15 and below Secure Download
  • Step 1 To start with, run the software and connect your device to the computer. Next, choose “Backup & Restore” option and then, select “Device Backup & Restore” feature.

    device backup
  • Step 2 After that, you can specify which file type you would like to backup and next, click on the “Backup” button to start with the backup process.

    select file type
  • Step 3Once the backup process completes, you can preview the backup. Finally, tap the “Export to Computer” button and select the target location where you want to save the backup.

    backup messages

That’s how you can backup iPhone messages using iOS Data Manager. As you can now see that the software enables you to pick the specific file type to backup. So, give a try to it as the backup feature is completely free to use.

Way 2: How to Backup Text Messages on iPhone to iCloud?

To backup text messages on iPhone, you can use iCloud service introduced by Apple. This data backup service offers free 5GB storage space so you can backup your data including text messages on iPhone. If your iPhone is running with iOS 11.4 or above, you can back up your text messages only to the iCloud. To learn how to backup text messages on iPhone 6, follow the below steps.

On iPhone running with iOS 11.3 or earlier

Step 1: Go to the "Settings" > "iCloud" or "Settings" > "[Your Name]" > "iCloud".

Step 2: Next, click “Backup/iCloud backup” and click “Back Up Now” option to backup messages on the device to iCloud.

back up messaage ios 11.3

On iPhone running with iOS 11.4 or later

Step 1: To start with, go to “Settings”>”[Your Name]”>”iCloud”.

Step 2: Now, locate the “Messages” option. Once you find, toggle the button next to it to start backing up text messages on iPhone to iCloud.

back up messaage ios 13

Way 3: How to Backup Text Messages on iPhone using iTunes?

You can also use iTunes to backup your iPhone text messages. But, keep in mind that this method will back up the whole device data. If you have no problem in that, then follow the below steps to learn how to backup iPhone text messages to the computer via iTunes.

Step 1: To start with, run the latest version of iTunes and connect your device to the computer with the help of a digital cable.

Step 2: Once iTunes detects the device, click on the device icon and go to the “Summary” panel.

Step 3: Finally, click the “This Computer” and click on the “Back Up Now” button and that’s all.

back up with itunes

Way 4: How to Backup Text Messages iPhone to Gmail?

Gmail comes with great storage space and it is possible to backup iPhone text messages to your Gmail account. But, backing up iPhone text messages to Gmail involves Android device usage. If you have the device, then follow the below steps to learn how to backup text messages on iPhone to Gmail.

Step 1: First, you need to backup your device via iTunes on computer.

Step 2: Next, find the backup file and locate the text messaging database backup file.

On Mac, follow the path - “/(user name)/Library/Application Support/Mobile Sync/Backup”

On Windows, follow the path - “/users/(username)/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/Mobile Sync”

Step 3: Now, you need to check that folder with the most recent data stamp and choose the file named - “3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28”.

Step 4: Take your Android device, connect it to your computer and copy that file you named to the device. Next, download the app “iSMS2droid” from the Play store.

Step 5: Run the app and move to the file you copied recently to the device. And restore the file to the Android device.

Step 6: Now, download the “SMS Backup & Restore” app from the Play store. Run it and log-in to your Gmail account.

Step 7: Next, choose the backup option and select the “Text Messages” option. Finally, click “Back Up Now” button and all your iPhone text messages will backup to provided Gmail email address.

That’s how you can backup text messages iPhone to Gmail. Even though it is quite lengthy, it will help you to get your job done.

back up with itunes

Part 3: Comparison of 4 Ways to Backup iPhone Messages:

If you’re now wondering which method to pick to backup iPhone text messages, then check out following comparison table of these 4 different methods.

iOS Data Manager iCloud iTunes Gmail
Selective Backup YES, but only with iPhone running with iOS 11.4 or later
Additional Tools Requirement
Backup Time Take quite less time - you can backup 50 GB data within one-hour. Takes quite a long time - it depends on file size and internet speed. Takes quite a long time - it depends on file size and internet speed. Lengthy process and so, it takes much more time as compared to other ways.
Preview

Conclusion:

This guide has provided several ways on how to backup messages on iPhone. Backing up your device data is the smart thing you can do to protect the data from permanent loss. We highly recommended you to try UltFone iOS Data Manager as it is the only way that helps you backup your iPhone text messages without any limitation.

Manage Your iPhone The Way You Want
  • One click to backup iPhone to computer for free.
  • Selectively restore backup to iPhone/iPad.
  • Transfer files on iPhone/iPad/iPod to/from computer freely without limitation
  • One click to export photos to computer
ios data manager