Backup, transfer and restore your Call Logs and SMS from any Android phone to /e/OS

Yes, a lot of things can be done if you use this application persistently. But, this guide is for migration of data when you switch to /e/OS and not beyond.

Oops, sorry :pleading_face:

Don’t be sorry. I am just explaining the limited scope of this guide. :smiley:

Thanks @manish for this amazing guide!!!
This is one of the things I struggled with the most when I helped my family migrate to /e/…
Hopefully it will be very helpful for many others.

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Thank you very much for this step by step guide.
As donut3 said, it was one of the items I struggled with when moving from an Android phone to a /e/OS one, and I really hoped there was an easiest method (kind of backup and restore from the default SMS app, so that it was possible to easily move everything… perhaps one day).

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@manish
Thank you very much for your great work!

Just a hint (but your solution is the versatile one!):
Espacially when you migrate within the same Android version you can also use Titanium Backup (Pro) to migrate call logs, SMS/MMS and even e.g. WLAN access, data usage.

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I have been using SMS Backup and Restore Pro for years. Since I multiboot on most of my devices the app gets a lot of use. Don’t believe it has ever failed to do the job regarding SMS (don’t backup call logs since I rarely make or receive calls). A must-have app in my opinion.
Nice to see it get a write-up. :+1:

Only issue I ever had, not the app’s fault, was with some OEM stock ROMs. When messages were restored the system would automatically give MMS messages (with images) the current time stamp. Totally messing up threading. That was a long time ago though.

All but one of the devices have external storage which I use for the app’s backup location. The Essential PH-1 with /e/OS only has internal storage. Many thanks @smu44 for the Documents subfolder tip. Excellent.

EDIT: Just found out that /e/ does SMS syncing now. Nice.

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In case you only want to use apps without tracker to backup and restore your SMS, you could :

On the old phone :

  • Install QKSMS from F-Droid (direct download link here),
  • open it,
  • set this app as the default SMS app,
  • display the menu with a swipe from the left to the right,
  • click on “Backup and restore”,
  • click on “Backup now”,
  • allow access to the internal storage if the pop up askking for this permission is displayed,
  • open the “Files” app,
  • save the “QKSMS” directory.

On the new /e/ phone :

  • Paste this directory on the new phone, at the same place,
  • open the pre-installed “Message” app,
  • display the menu with a swipe from the left to the right,
  • click on “Backup and restore”,
  • click on “Restore”,
  • click on the wanted backup,
  • click on “RESTORE”.
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Or, if you’re ok having your messages in /e/ Cloud, ask support to enable “Phone Sync” for your account :wink:

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I tried that - they said “No”. Actually they said it was currently limited to developers, but as I’m not a developer, that amounts to 'No" :slight_smile:

HI @Anonyme,

Still interested in backing up SMS… and I found againg your post,
which is quite interesting and leads me to the following question (I still have an old version of /e/ installed, thus my question):

  • click on “Backup and restore”

Does the current version of the app have the backup and restore function? I do not have it in mine (3.6.4).
Is it possible to copy the backup to an external memory?

Thank you in advance for your reply

Hello @sonyxa2,

Yes it has the restore function.

And yes once the backup is done you can copy the file wherever you want. Though for Message to find the file in order to restore it, try to paste it at the same place it was (so copy the entire folder instead of just the backup file).

Thank you very much for the information.
As I am quite interested, I guess I will consider moving to a more recent version of /e/OS (the fear or losing something has prevented me from doing it before) or the SMS app only (if it is possible to update it without losing the messages… I would need to search for it)

Hi @Anonyme, perhaps a silly question : is it possible to update the app itself only? Which is the name of the app itself (Message? SMS app?) and from which store shall I download it to avoid losing my messages?

Thak you in advance

Hm on recent versions of /e/OS, the codename of the Message app has been changed to become foundation.e.message instead of the original one. If it’s the case in your version, it will be difficult to update it.

Though if you are on an old version of /e/OS in which the codename of Message/QKSMS is still the original one, try to update it with Aurora Store (if no update is suggested for Message/QKSMS then the codename isn’t the original one), APKPure or F-Droid.

Don’t know if it will work though. Would be easier to backup and update the phone.

Thank you for reply.
Let me have a look, I am a little bit afraid of updating my phone (what prevents me from doing it is that it is not yet totally clear to me how to have a full backup of the phone, not to risk losing the information I have stored there, as it is my daily driver), therefore I would prefer to update the app (which is called Message / SMS app, by looking in the settings).

Thank you very much

Just a quick note in case anyone missed it. SMS Backup & Restore now supports WebDAV natively. Ideal if one’s device doesn’t have microSD, don’t care to use GDrive, DropBox, OneDrive, or don’t have NextCloud app installed (which integrates with a ROM’s default file manager).

Side Note: Since Send Reduced and Phone Saver don’t work on Android 11, I’m using ImagePipe. Don’t like the results though. Any tips on getting the output (fonts) to look less jaggy?

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On my device at least this is only supported by the ‘Pro’ (presumably paid-for) version

Oh, good point. Didn’t think about that.
Been using the Pro version for years (since KitKat). Once purchased the Pro version has no reliance on Google so it works in Google-free environmemts without fail.
I recommend going Pro.

Thanks! That worked well! Phones took some time to find eachother, and I could only get it to work through wifi, there was no sharing through bluetooth option at all. But it did the job. Thanks again for the detailed guide!!