SMS Recovery
December 3, 2014 9:04 PM Subscribe
How do I recover deleted text messages from my phone without rooting it?
I have a Verizon Galaxy S4 running Android 4.2.2. Recently I realized that some text messages of sentimental value to me were being automatically deleted due to my Messaging app's 200-count limit for messages from a single contact. I have since switched that setting off, but I've been experiencing a great deal of difficulty in attempting to recover the deleted messages.
I considered the option of trying to have them sent to me by Verizon, since apparently carriers have to retain copies of text messages for a certain period of time, but I was told that I would need a subpoena to compel Verizon to send me the messages, and that seemed like a bit much to me. I've emailed them about it again, but I don't have much confidence that this approach will be successful.
I strongly considered rooting my phone to be able to use software which would hopefully do the trick of recovering those messages (since all the recovery software I tried required the phone to be rooted), but ultimately I determined it was too risky (in terms of potentially bricking my phone, causing catastrophic data loss, voiding warranty stuff, etc.). The method I had tried involved Towelroot and a complex method of enabling Towelroot to function properly due to an update for Android 4.2.2 that would otherwise prevent it from working. The more I learned, the more danger I perceived in this course, and so I backed out before doing any damage.
From what I've read in my research, deleted text messages are stored in highly temporary memory that gets overwritten frequently, so this does make my plight time-sensitive. If this is true, the more I use my phone, the greater the chance that the deleted text messages will be overwritten and irrecoverable.
What gives me hope, however, is that I can actually access partial versions of all of those deleted text messages. If I go to that specific contact and bring up the menu, then tap History, I can see highly abbreviated copies (limited to about 50 characters each) of all my text messages to and from that contact. They also display the texts' date and time information. However, the only options available from that History menu are View (which unfortunately only filters and does not allow me to view the full versions of the messages) and Delete, so that seems to be a dead end.
So Metafilter, can you help me out? I tried to let this go, but after spending so much time and effort trying to solve this, I'm loath to give up without giving it one last try. I'd be much obliged for any and all assistance you can provide.
I have a Verizon Galaxy S4 running Android 4.2.2. Recently I realized that some text messages of sentimental value to me were being automatically deleted due to my Messaging app's 200-count limit for messages from a single contact. I have since switched that setting off, but I've been experiencing a great deal of difficulty in attempting to recover the deleted messages.
I considered the option of trying to have them sent to me by Verizon, since apparently carriers have to retain copies of text messages for a certain period of time, but I was told that I would need a subpoena to compel Verizon to send me the messages, and that seemed like a bit much to me. I've emailed them about it again, but I don't have much confidence that this approach will be successful.
I strongly considered rooting my phone to be able to use software which would hopefully do the trick of recovering those messages (since all the recovery software I tried required the phone to be rooted), but ultimately I determined it was too risky (in terms of potentially bricking my phone, causing catastrophic data loss, voiding warranty stuff, etc.). The method I had tried involved Towelroot and a complex method of enabling Towelroot to function properly due to an update for Android 4.2.2 that would otherwise prevent it from working. The more I learned, the more danger I perceived in this course, and so I backed out before doing any damage.
From what I've read in my research, deleted text messages are stored in highly temporary memory that gets overwritten frequently, so this does make my plight time-sensitive. If this is true, the more I use my phone, the greater the chance that the deleted text messages will be overwritten and irrecoverable.
What gives me hope, however, is that I can actually access partial versions of all of those deleted text messages. If I go to that specific contact and bring up the menu, then tap History, I can see highly abbreviated copies (limited to about 50 characters each) of all my text messages to and from that contact. They also display the texts' date and time information. However, the only options available from that History menu are View (which unfortunately only filters and does not allow me to view the full versions of the messages) and Delete, so that seems to be a dead end.
So Metafilter, can you help me out? I tried to let this go, but after spending so much time and effort trying to solve this, I'm loath to give up without giving it one last try. I'd be much obliged for any and all assistance you can provide.
Also, not sure how phone backups work in the Android world, but maybe you could find the text messages from said phone backup from before the messages were deleted? iOS phone backups are either stored on a synced Mac or in iCloud and I've used those to recover files in the past.
posted by destructive cactus at 10:48 PM on December 3, 2014
posted by destructive cactus at 10:48 PM on December 3, 2014
Installing new software onto your phone is likely to overwrite the deleted text messages. But do it anyway - it's not like you have a choice :)
posted by devnull at 1:42 AM on December 4, 2014
posted by devnull at 1:42 AM on December 4, 2014
This advice won't help you with your current predicament, but it can prevent it from happening again:
In the future, if you don't want to lose text messages, you might want to consider something like SMS Backup +.
I use this and it automatically backs up all of my SMS and MMS messages to my gmail account.
posted by jozxyqk at 2:12 AM on December 4, 2014
In the future, if you don't want to lose text messages, you might want to consider something like SMS Backup +.
I use this and it automatically backs up all of my SMS and MMS messages to my gmail account.
posted by jozxyqk at 2:12 AM on December 4, 2014
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If you wanna get down n' dirty, here is a post that explains how the SMS messages are stored, and it links to this specifically that seems appropriate to your situation.
posted by destructive cactus at 10:45 PM on December 3, 2014