Presented by IDrive Presented by IDrive Save 90% on 5 TB of cloud backup at IDrive.com when you use promo code “Kim” at checkout. For some, text messaging is superior to all other forms of communication. You can stay in touch with others while keeping busy with other things such as working, streaming or gaming. There’s no obligation to be on the ball every second, and you can take your time and craft appropriate responses or end the conversation with a universally accepted “Gotta go.” Your text message databank may be full of memes and obligatory responses, but there are probably some messages that you don’t want to lose. You can back them up using your phone’s native apps and features or a third party. We’ll show you some options below. If you’re on an Android, you’re in luck. Google’s mobile operating system is more forgiving than Apple’s iOS, so you have more options for apps that can access your text messages. SMS Backup & Restore is one such app and you can find it in the Google Play Store. The app backs up (creates a copy of) SMS & MMS messages and call logs that are on your phone at the time you run it. It can also restore these messages from existing backups. This includes group messages and messages containing pictures, music and videos. The app creates a local backup to your phone, and you can back up to the cloud, Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive. You can create backups whenever you wish or schedule automatically recurring backups. The recovery feature only works if the app creates a backup. It cannot recover deleted messages otherwise. Backups are created in XML format. The Play Store description reads that the app has been tested on Android 5.0 and higher. Here’s how to use SMS Backup & Restore: Your iPhone can back up data to your iCloud account. Photos, mail, contacts, notes, passwords and game saves can all be backed up. You can also back up your messages. Messages in iCloud are updated automatically, so you can see them across all your devices. When you delete a message or conversation from one device, the same happens to all others connected to your iCloud. To turn on Messages in iCloud, ensure that you’ve set up iCloud and signed in with your Apple ID. You must use two-factor authentication with your Apple ID and turn on the iCloud Keychain. Next, on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud. Now do one of the following: For iOS 16, iPadOS 16, or later: Tap Show All > Messages, then turn on Sync this [device]. For iOS 15, iPadOS 15, or earlier: Turn on Messages. Any messages currently stored in iCloud are now accessible on your device, and any new messages you receive will be stored in iCloud. To ensure you can see your messages on all your devices, check the following: iMessage account: On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive. Make sure that you’re signed in to iMessage with the same Apple ID. You can choose which email addresses and phone numbers you want to send and receive messages from on each device. To see messages stored in iCloud, open the Messages app. RELATED: Want to stop junk and spam text messages for good? Tap or click here to learn how. While you have many backup choices for Android, the same can’t be said for Apple devices. iExplorer lets you access, view and transfer music, messages, photos and files from any iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod) to any Mac or PC. The iExplorer SMS client works with text messages, including groups and messages containing media such as videos and images. iExplorer lets you access and save your iPhone’s messages to your Mac or PC as .PDF, .TXT, or .CSV documents. You’ll need to be running Windows 7, 8, 10 or later and have an iTunes account. Here’s how to transfer text messages from your iOS device to your computer: Text messages aren’t the only files you should back up. Your important documents, files and photos need to be backed up with a service you can trust. We recommend our sponsor, IDrive. IDrive protects your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android devices with just one account. Its versatile and user-friendly platform has simplified saving and recovering data for small businesses and individuals. Kim has negotiated a killer deal for you. Tap or click here to save 90% on 5 TB of cloud backup today with IDrive! Tech how-to: 5 easy ways to convert audio files to text This new iPhone feature alerts your contacts when you aren’t free to text back More: Navigating the digital world can be intimidating and sometimes downright daunting. Let me help! Reach out today to ask your digital question. You might even be on my show!
