How to back up SMS messages on iPhone

Om Malik | Sunday, December 2, 2007 | 1:30 PM PT | 22 comments

Micromat has released a beta version of Syphone, a tiny application that you install on your Apple computer. It allows you to save, archive and view the SMS messages on your desktop machine. Don’t worry, it won’t muck around with your iPhone. I love it – now all my SMS messages have been saved. (via)

Comments (22)

  • Om, I thought you were done with the iPhone. Still in denial I see.

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  • Nah, I am using it on a off-and-on basis. i have four phones: a samsung for sprint, a n95, a curve and an iphone. for strictly personal calls i use iphone – attached to an AT&T plan with awesome deal on calls to my parents in India. for work its the samsung and curve. n95 is just a phone (to test). Hope that helps.

    I have to say one thing which is indeed awesome about iphone – calendar syncing with mac. though i find goosync another great service to sync with curve and n95.

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  • Hi Om,

    maybe you should try Synkia.com for your Nokia N95 or any other SyncML compatible mobile phone or device (in excess of 1 billion currently on the market). Synkia will back up and archive all your SMS messages online. By using Synkia’s service you can also synchronize address book information, tasks, notes. You can also easily migrate data from one device to another.

    Synkia’s SMS backup is performed as a onetime action of synchronization between a mobile phone and the Synkia server, together with all personal data. In the SMS section of Synkia’s web application users have a backup of all messages still present on their phones and an unlimited archive of all messages ever backed up with Synkia, no matter if they are still on the phone or not. Rich search functions allow the user to find a specific messages by key words, date sent or received and by the sender’s name.

    And as more people store digital contact data in multiple places, a server-based address book, such as Synkia’s, is able to unify your contacts and keep them all in sync. Synkia integrates this all into an online portal at http://www.Synkia.com

    Synkia’s solution supports a wide range of mobile devices including:

    • SyncML enabled phones, including models from Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericcson and others
    • Windows Mobile devices, devices such as BlackBerries and Palm Treos, via third party software

    Synkia ensures that data is up-to-date on every device and server.

    Regards, Jo Mosaku

    Disclosure: I currently work for Synkia AS, headquartered in Oslo, Norway with development team based in Kraków, Poland

      Reply
  • Syphone only works on a Mac OS. Is there any way I can back up my Iphone SMS messages to my PC? If anyone knows, please help :) Thanks!

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  • Om,
    Syphone is pretty cute for your own personal private archive. We make an SMS archiving app but instead of saving to your computer we save them online.

    Treasuremytext (the original SMS archive) saves people’s favorite SMS messages online. When saved, users can organise and share their messages. Our users from all over the world save messages simply by forwarding them to our standard rate mobile number: hassle free with no compatibility issues, it works on any phone, any network, anywhere.

    Until that is iPhone came along. The Treasuremytext Dev Team has iPhones and we quickly found we couldn’t use our own service with our iPhones as there was no way of forwarding messages. Of course the iPhone offers us a much better way to archive messages using EDGE or Wifi, so if we could build an iPhone app that lets iPhone users archive some or all messages to Treasuremytext, then we would make Treasuremytext better for iPhone users as it would be free to use (rather than the cost of the forwarded SMS).

    Treasuremytext 2 is now in beta, and the iPhone app is very nearly ready for launch. The beta is running with a Netherlands phone number right now but we are launching localized versions in UK, NL and USA soon.

    For invites to try out the new Treasuremytext see: http://beta.treasuremytext.com/Apps/WebObjects/SMS.woa/wa/goCreateAccount

    Best,

    Katie Lips
    http://beta.treasuremytext.com
    http://blog.treasuremytext.com

      Reply
  • How can I save TXT msgs to my PC? Syphone is good for MAC, but what application can I use for PC? Thanks.

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  • I want to know how can i save sms from my nokia communicator.. nokia 9300.. pls help me out.. I am using windows xp..

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  • Yes, I am wondering the same thing, too. How can I save my text messages and voice mail to Windows XP, or Vista? This very frustrating. I like the iPhone, but am not going to become a Mac user. Am strongly considering going to the Sony Xperia when it comes out. So tired of the non-compatibility with this phone and my Windows OS. If anyone has a solution or knows of some software, other than jailbreaking the phone, I’d love to hear. Thanks.

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  • Here is a website that i came across that has an application for Windows users. I downloaded and tried to use it but there were problems. The same thing may happen for you but trying shouldn’t hurt. If any one else has an answer to the SMS archive issues on Windows with iPhones please let me know.

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  • I’ve just downloaded the program, run, nothing worked, shut down and reopened and it won’t load up… clearly still in very early beta testing!

    try again next time Syphone

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  • I had to restart my Mac after installing Syphone– and that made it work. Didn’t work until I restarted. FYI.

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  • There’s also YouArchive.It to backup SMS messages… this is also a web service, so SMSs are stored in the site, and are accessible from anywhere the world.
    Also, messages can be imported directly from the phone, with a free application called iTextUploader.
    http://youarchive.it

      Reply
  • I would suggest YouArchive.It too.
    It’s a free web service, so SMSs are stored in the cloud and are accessible from anywhere the world, any moment.
    http://youarchive.it

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  • There’s now Ndara iSMS Backup for Windows.
    http://code.google.com/p/ndara/

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  • any insights in apps that can save fraft sms or forward sms on an iphone.
    many thanks
    :)c

      Reply
  • hello everybody! :)

    pleas help me a bit! …i’ve jutst installed Syphone and i don’t really know how to start syncing my iPhone’s sms messages wtih it! Does it work through iTunes or so? Zsolt

    Zsolt Kónya — 6:01 AM on March 17, 2009
      Reply
  • Syphone works fine on mac, but not for windows.
    If you want to backup sms from iPhone to windows PC, I recommend this iPhone sms to pc transfer program called Tansee iPhone Transfer SMS
    http://ipod-tool.com/ipod-software/tansee-iphone-transfer-sms.html

      Reply
  • Synphone only works for mac? I own a windows laptop, and this iPhone SMS backup program finally helped me out http://ipod-tool.com/ipod-software/tansee-iphone-transfer-sms.html
    It enables us transfer iPhone SMS to computer as a txt file or a ANTS file. Before the transfer, we can choose to transfer from all contacts or a single contact. Moreover, we can choose transfer the SMS to a TXT file or a ANTS file. In ANTS file condition, we can protect the file with a password to keep our privacy

      Reply
  • Since Syphone has not updated and cannot work with the newest iPhone software, and still is unsure about the future of the program (hello 3.0 comes out next month) I have switched to Mobile Sync Browser….It is a comparable SMS archiver….. http://homepage.mac.com/vaughn/msync/

      Reply
  • downloaded and installed Syphone on my G4 Mac PowerBook but it does not detect my iPhone (2.1 firmware) at all even though iPhoto and iTunes detects the phone. Anybody have any ideas?

      Reply

Linkbacks (4)

  • [...] Danke an Mannix für den GigaOM-Link… [...]

     
  • [...] Joining the cacophony of OS X apps that only do one thing (but one thing really well), here’s the Syphone. It’s freeware, which is nice, and serves to back up your SMS messages so you can read them later. It even allows you to–if we’re reading this right–import messages to your phone, which means you can covertly inject a message into your buddy’s phone from his ex asking whether he wants to get back together. We’re probably reading that wrong. [Micromat via SMS Text News via Giga Om] [...]

     
  • [...] Un nouveau venu dans la cacophonie des applications OSX qui ne font qu’une chose (mais une chose vraiment bien) : le Syphone. C’est un freeware, c’est chouette, qui permet de sauvegardez vos messages SMS pour que vous puissiez les lire plus tard. Il vous permet même (si on comprend bien) d’importer des messages sur votre téléphone. Génial ! ça signifie que vous pouvez injecter en cachette sur le téléphone d’un ami un message de son ex lui demandant de revenir. Mais on se trompe sûrement. Si vous le testez chez vous, dites-nous si ça marche en commentaire. (Benoît ? Tu t’y colles ?) [Micromat via SMS Text News via Giga Om] [...]

     

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