Where did my texts go?

June 9, 2009 8:39 PM

How can I get my text messages back? I had approximately 400 texts saved on my phone, which broke. While I was waiting to get the replacement, I put the SIM card into my old phone and used it for a week or two. The new phone has arrived, but when I put the card in and checked my texts, about 370 seem to have disappeared.

My Motorola W490's display conked out completely a couple of weeks ago, but was still covered by warranty, so while I was waiting for the new phone, I popped the SIM card into my old RAZR to use in the interim. The RAZR only has the capacity to display 33 messages at a time, whereas the W490 was loaded up with about 400 texts that I had saved for sentimental reasons.

When I put the card into the replacement phone that came today, the message inbox only has 33 messages. The rest seem to be gone. Was I wrong to assume that the 400 texts I had saved were saved on the card? Is there a way to get them back?

posted by corey flood to Technology (5 answers total)

They're probably on the old phone's internal memory. My old phone had an option to either store texts on the SIM or the phone, so if the old phone is salvageable you might be able to pull the texts onto the sim, and then pop the SIM back in the new phone and see them there.

BTW, I have no direct experience with either of the phones mentioned and don't know if this method is possible on either or both of them. It did, however, work on my old Samsung when I had a similar situation a few years back.
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 9:06 PM on June 9, 2009

Agreed they're probably stored in the old phone.

You could try taking both into the store and asking for help. When I got my new phone they were able to transfer everything over for me relatively easily.
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:15 PM on June 9, 2009

Best answer: I have built a cellphone from chips on a breadboard. I did a lot of programming work with text messages and direct access to the SIM card's contents.

If I recall, a SIM card has a very limited capacity to store text messages. I don't recall the precise number, but it was double-digit, and I'd buy 33. Some phones don't actually use this space at all, so you're lucky to even have 33 of them. The RAZR, if I recall, does the opposite and so doesn't use any phone memory--it's all on the SIM, which is why it can only retain a few messages before it complains about being full.

This is not an issue with the phone. Your text messages are not on your SIM card. Unless you can somehow pull them from the old cellphone, they are lost.
posted by Netzapper at 10:12 PM on June 9, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks, everybody. I kind of figured that it was the case that the messages were on the old phone. I'll see what I can do to pull them off.
posted by corey flood at 10:28 PM on June 9, 2009

I would suggest taking the phone to your provider's store and ask them to transfer them for you... they frequently know the the key strokes necessary (even if they can't see the menus).

good luck
posted by HuronBob at 6:01 AM on June 10, 2009