SMS Backup & Restore

SyncTech Pty Ltd

Contains ads

About this app

SMS Backup & Restore is an app that backs up (creates a copy of) SMS & MMS messages and call logs currently available on the phone. It can also restore messages and call logs from already existing backups.

Note: This app requires existing backups to be able to restore call logs and messages. It cannot recover anything without existing backups.

To view the contents of the backups, visit https://www.synctech.com.au/view-backup/

For questions or issues please visit our FAQ at: https://synctech.com.au/sms-faqs/


APP FEATURES:
- Backup SMS (text) messages, MMS and call logs in XML format.
- Local device backup with options to automatically upload to Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive.
- Choose a recurring scheduled time to automatically backup.
- Option to select which conversations to backup or restore.
- View and drill into your local and cloud backups.
- Search backups.
- Restore/transfer backup to another phone. Backup format is independent of the Android version so the messages and logs can be easily transferred from one phone to another, irrespective of the version.
- Fast Transfer between 2 phones over WiFi direct
- Free up space on your phone. Delete all SMS messages or call logs on the Phone.
- Email a backup file.
- The XML backup can be viewed on a computer via the online viewer at https://SyncTech.com.au/view-backup/

Notes:
- Tested on Android 5.0 and higher
- App only restores backups made by this app
- Backup is created locally on the phone by default, but has options to upload to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or Email. At no time are the files sent to the developer.
- Please ensure there is a copy of the backup outside the phone before performing a factory reset on the phone.

This App needs access to the following:
* Your messages: Backup and Restore messages. Receive SMS permission needed to properly handle messages received while the app is the default messaging app.
* Your Calls and Contact information: Backup and Restore Call Logs.
* Storage: To create the Backup file on the SD card.
* Network view and communication: Allows the app to connect to wifi for backup
* Your social information: To display and store the contact names in the Backup file.
* Run at start-up: Start scheduled Backups.
* Prevent Phone from Sleeping: To prevent the phone from going to sleep/suspended state while a Backup or Restore operation is in progress.
* Test access to Protected Storage: To create the Backup file on the SD card.
* Account Information: To authenticate with Google Drive and Gmail for cloud uploads.
* Location: Only requested and used during WiFi direct transfer due to a security requirement on Android.

Ratings and reviews

BLESS. THIS. APP. It worked perfectly! After weeks of scouring the Internet for ways to transfer my Google Messages to my new phone (which uses the same app, logged into the same Google account) and coming up with nada, this app saved me! There's only one con, imo: I'm going to have to go though and archive/delete what looks like thousands of messages (yikes, but hey, at least they're there). Just go in with that expectation, and hopefully the app works for you!

I loved this app... UNTIL right now. It has reliably backed up all my SMS texts for years. However, after the recent update (11/29/25), the app won't even open. I get a message, "Unfortunately, SMS backup & Restore has stopped." It's useless now. I can't retrieve my backups w/out it. I don't want to hastily remove/reinstall the app. I worry it will mess w/ my current backups. Everything was set up perfectly to backup to my desired folder. Update 12/3: TY for your prompt reply to look into this.

I have had this app a handful of years and it has never let me down. The only trouble I ever have is trying to read the saved text messages after transferring them to my computer. It ends up all jumbled and very hard to read, but I think it's some sort of file type issue that's fixable. Because of that issue I did check out a couple other SMS backup apps, but they wanted fees, very un-user friendly apps without having the ability to backup to a external USB storage. I'm not doing that again.

What’s new

- Updated Google Ads library in an attempt to fix the blank screen issue reported by some users.
- Updated to latest Dropbox library for upcoming Dropbox certificate changes.