How long do you tend to keep your text messages? Do you have a method for transferring them across devices over the years?

[Elarion]

I've always just used whatever transfer system is available to move them from device to device, but now that I'm looking at an iPhone for the first time, I don't really have a way to move my messages over, nor a way to move them back if I decide that iPhones aren't for me. It got me curious though, how long do you normally keep your text messages? Specifically people in the US, where Whatsapp isn't commonly used. Maybe I'm worried about losing all of this old stuff for nothing.

[ARandomPerson]

From IPhone to IPhone there is a way to transfer over messages, I am not sure about Android to IPhone to Android and vice versa.

I keep those messages as long as I can. Some older messages are helpful  and I send messages to myself as a pseudo note taker

[OhioYJ]

I read them, and generally delete them.

 

For Android, Google will back them up. Generally even something important, I don't need for that long, I might hold onto for 24 hours. I don't need to be a digital "hoarder" in this regard.

 

Never mind my digital hoarding it other regards....

[dkoudijs]

1 year. ios has an auto delete.

i keep pictures way longer, as they seem to matter more to me.

[BiotechBen]

I've got messages with my late father going back all the way to 2017 via Google messages. Anythi g before that is lost to the ether of Microsoft or Apple 

[Godlygamer23]

Generally, I keep messages forever, but do delete stuff from time to time. I keep a lot of whole backups of my iPhone, and if I think something on there might be useful for messages, photos, etc, I'll reference those as needed.

 

For my iPhone, I use iMazing, which also allows me to extract my messages into a PDF if desired.

[Caroline]

This bad boy (K790) came with the Sony Ericsson PC Suite disc and there's an option to download all of your texts to the computer via USB, bluetooth or infrared (the cursed option, move the phone 0.01nm and the connection dies lol) as the phone has a limit of 500 for the inbox and another 500 for outgoing texts.

And of course it can transfer photos, videos, songs, addressbook entries, etc.

 

Back in the day it was marketed as a phone for business/corporate people so it makes sense it comes with features like being able to text from your computer or using the phone as a modem, as long as your service allows for data usage that is (mine doesn't).

 

So I keep them until the phone counter is around 450, I'd say for a year tho sometimes it takes more to fill. I delete the random stuff like "ok" and "on my way" texts that add nothing of value unless the conversation involves money. I keep texts for a legal reason, as proof of my sales in case someone wants to lie saying I never delivered X product or it was damaged/defective after payment, for every sale I have the buyer check that the product is in mint condition and works, it's mostly decorative lamps you can test even at the cheapest diner in town if it includes a bulb.

 

It'd be funny if this brick can sync texts with a computer and a brand new $1500 iPhone does not. Talk about feature cuts.

[TylerD321]

I don't delete messages ever, but I also never reference them... I am just lazy. My phone has messages all the way back to 2019. I just keep whatever is transferred when I get a new phone. I currently have 418 unread messages on my personal phone. My work phone, however, has zero unread messages or emails - I stay on top of that.

[saintlouisbagels]

I've been iOS since 2015 and I have every message and text saved since then. It's simple. iCloud backups. I don't "actively" back up anything. When I get a new phone, everything is transferred over.

 

It's been fun searching certain keywords and seeing the correct text reference from like 2018  and then going down memory lane for a few minutes and wonder why I would ever talk about X.

 

When I made a Letterboxd account, I had a realization that I texted my best friend literally almost every movie I watched since 2017 either the night of or day after watching them. It made for a very thorough movie diary as I searched every movie.

[rikitikitavi]

On 6/25/2024 at 2:46 PM, Elarion said:

I've always just used whatever transfer system is available to move them from device to device, but now that I'm looking at an iPhone for the first time, I don't really have a way to move my messages over, nor a way to move them back if I decide that iPhones aren't for me. It got me curious though, how long do you normally keep your text messages? Specifically people in the US, where Whatsapp isn't commonly used. Maybe I'm worried about losing all of this old stuff for nothing.

3rd party apps like iMazing should help with anything iPhone transfer. At the very least - it can export into csv

 

While apps like whatsapp should have their own ways to do android-iphone transfer