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Plain text backup of SMS, Instagram, and Facebook

B

Bully1972

Lurker
Hi there

My company has asked me to try to find some software that backs up (in plain text) the data from an android device. A mandatory requirement is that it must be able to back up SMS, Instagram, and Facebook data. I have a couple of questions around this.

1. Can this backup be done directly from an android device?
2. Does any software exist that can achieve this in an intuitive manner?

There is a tool called iMazing that does this well for IOS but I am not sure if an equivalent exists for Android.

Thanks.
 
Don't know anything about this "imazing". I know text messages can be exported and put in different formats. Not sure about a third-party app exporting data from something like WhatsApp, other than WhatsApp itself might provide. I believe WhatsApp data securely encrypted, to ensure it's private and no whatever third-party apps can snoop it.

Do you have the account login credentials for the WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram accounts you want to backup and have as plain text
 
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ocnbrze said:
what kind of facebook and instagram data? are we talking photos? posts? all of it? and curious why do you need to save it?
Click to expand...
I am looking to backup text data only. It is for an application that is being developed to monitor social media behaviour.
 
mikedt said:
Don't know anything about this "imazing". I know text messages can be exported and put in different formats. Not sure about a third-party app exporting data from something like WhatsApp, other than WhatsApp itself might provide. I believe WhatsApp data securely encrypted, to ensure it's private and no whatever third-party apps can snoop it.

Do you have the account login credentials for the WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram accounts you want to backup and have as plain text
Click to expand...
There are a few solutions out there that can backup WhatsApp (outside of doing it from the app itself). A solution for Facebook messenger seems to be harder to find though.
 
tube517 said:
Facebook messenger chats can be backed up within Facebook itself.

https://www.zapptales.com/en/download-facebook-messenger-chat-history-how-to/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, coincidentally, I did carry out this task a bit earlier today and am waiting for the file.

I was told that due to some privacy concerns Facebook only give you your side of the conversation nowadays (that article is from 2015 and I think the output file may be a bit different in 2019). Time will tell I suppose. Due to the nature of what we are trying to achieve we need both sides of the exchange. I have been looking around for the best part of a day and a half and I do not think there is anything available that can help end users intuitively achieve this task.
 
Bully1972 said:
Thanks for the link, coincidentally, I did carry out this task a bit earlier today and am waiting for the file.

I was told that due to some privacy concerns Facebook only give you your side of the conversation nowadays (that article is from 2015 and I think the output file may be a bit different in 2019). Time will tell I suppose. Due to the nature of what we are trying to achieve we need both sides of the exchange. I have been looking around for the best part of a day and a half and I do not think there is anything available that can help end users intuitively achieve this task.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to backup every single chat or just certain chats?
 
tube517 said:
Are you trying to backup every single chat or just certain chats?
Click to expand...

Initially yes. Ideally the user could then set up an automatic update at a frequency of their choice (daily / weekly etc). However, we want to provide a one stop shop for end users to back up their message data and not have to direct them to different apps with different processes in order to achieve this. That is where iMazing does a good job for iOS (it also seems to meet the requirements we have - it unfortunately does not work on Android).
 
I looked at that "Imazing" website and it looks like what Samsung and LG has when transferring data and files from one phone to another.

I don't see anything specifically for Facebook/Instagram data. Usually when it goes to the new phone, you just log in to each app and sync and all the data and pictures are there.

What phones are your company using?

I don't know of any "One stop shop" backup apps for social media type websites.

This is from the iMazing website:

  • Not all apps allow you to back up and restore data and settings. Apps which rely on web services such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, for example, do not need to be backed up and restored. They simply load your data from their servers when you log in after installing their apps.
 
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