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Help SMS _Conversation_ saver app?

T

Tristan Raghnall

Member
Hello,

I have SMS To Text which allows me to backup any text message thread I want and I've chosen to export to CSV (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smeiti.smstotext&hl=en). I love this app a lot but it doesn't save text conversations, which are messages sent to more than one person at the same time. I don't mind saving the resulting threads that come as separate messages from the main one as individual CSV files, no problem. They're the responses, after all. But the fact that I haven't yet found a way to save the original multi-addressee message has been a pain.

These messages are important, as well, as they're usually broadcast text messages to family members so I really need to be able to save them, as well, as the main information is always in them.

Does anyone know how to save text message conversations, please?

Thanks.

p.s., I don't know if I have the right Android forum for this. Please advise if I need to post this somewhere else. Thx!!!
 
Does this app save MMS? The reason I ask is that some message apps send group messages as MMS (or have the option to do so), so if your message app is set to do that and your backup app does not back up MMS that might explain the problem.

I've used SMS Backup & Restore and SMS Backup+, both of which do back up MMS as well as SMS, though I mainly use Titanium Backup Pro (root required). None of these backup to CSV though (SMS Backup+ backs up to a folder in your GMail account, while the other 2 both backup to XML files). I've also never had a problem with group messages, but whether that's because these apps handle group messages better or because I don't send group message as MMS (something I always check and turn off in any message app) I don't know.
 
Thanks for your reply!

I'm not sure I have answers for the questions but I do know that I don't have ability to send in MMS (that means videos and pictures in text messages, right?) as I had that disabled for personal reasons. [I am chased at work on emails, you see and at home, I wanted to be completely internet and email free on my phone so just have regular text messaging.]

I believe that the app _doesn't_ save MMS messages, so that might be why.

However, I have a question re one of your statements ... you say:

"I don't send group message as MMS (something I always check and turn off in any message app) I don't know."

Does this mean that a text message can be sent to more than one person as SMS versus MMS???

I need to have ability to send to multiple recipients, that is a must. But I also must be able to back the information up. So if there were a way to send to multiple people as SMS, instead, this all might be do-able as I believe the app that I mention above only handles SMS messages.

Please advise.

Thanks!
 
Well, I just spoke with my service provider and she advised me that, no. When I send to multiple recipients, those text messages are sent as a text message (SMS) and not MMS. That's confusing to me because I could have sworn that I was told something else by another rep some time back. But it actually does make sense when you consider that I don't have a data plan, so maybe she is right after all <sigh> (It's all so confusing, sometimes.)

So I guess that this means that the app itself perhaps just doesn't handle multiple recipients (??).

I'll definitely look into the apps you mention.

I'll have to see what the XML output looks like. The CSV output that SMS To Text offers is definitely the best, but having a handful of XML files for the multi-addressee message threads might be alright.

I don't want anything that backs up to any cloud or to gmail or anything. I just want a straight backup to my phone itself. So hopefully the ones that you mention, like the XML output one, will work in a straightforward manner and _also_ not have funky permissions. 99% of the apps I find I have to discard because they want to know waaayyy too much.

Thanks.
 
If you've had 2 reps tell you different things it might be worth playing safe and testing it yourself. Message apps like Chomp or Textra have an explicit setting to control whether group messages are sent as MMS. Not having a data plan does not guarantee you cannot send or receive MMS - although that uses data, it's usually separate from a data plan (often a different APN), so if you are unsure try it with an app that let's you control this and then see whether you can back up the message.
 
Hadron said:
If you've had 2 reps tell you different things it might be worth playing safe and testing it yourself. Message apps like Chomp or Textra have an explicit setting to control whether group messages are sent as MMS. Not having a data plan does not guarantee you cannot send or receive MMS - although that uses data, it's usually separate from a data plan (often a different APN), so if you are unsure try it with an app that let's you control this and then see whether you can back up the message.
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I know, it's confusing. But thanks, that's great advice! I'm still relatively new to the Android universe as I've only been using this Nexus for about 1.5 years (was BlackBerry), so difficult to know what's what, sometimes, that's for sure. I only know that I was told I couldn't send pictures/videos in text messages because no data plan (no internet). And I definitely don't want to change that and get internet on my phone!! (I'd be missing my bus stops and walking out into traffic, etc., etc. because I'd be too busy surfing the net on my phone, plus not having any place to escape the gazillions of emails I get at work and home <lol>).

I'll try these out. Hopefully they'll help me figure out what's what. And if I also find a way to back up multi-recipient messages on top of that, this would be grand! <g>
 
Even though the permissions for most were awful (_why_ do they need to access a whole bunch of items. I'm just backing up. VERY suspicious!) ... but for the heck of it, I tried 3 and just no go. The thing with SMS to Text, it saves the entire thread with icons to CSV. It's not for backup purposes but for reading at a later date. One app I tried was strictly for backup and it didn't let me choose which threads to save. It saved them all in one lump by date. Very confusing when all the conversations were jumbled up all in one CSV file!

There was one app that did work but it also didn't recognize the multi-recipient message. When you go to "back up" or export to CSV, both my app and the one I tried show all the messages that you choose EXCEPT for the ones that have more than one recipient. Very, very odd.

So this looks like a bust, still, for now.

Thanks for everyone's help. I'll keep trying.
 
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