Have you just set up a new iPhone and found that your Messages app is empty? We understand that your old message conversations are important to you, and we're here to tell you that you don't have to lose them! This article will take you through how to easily transfer text messages from an old iPhone to a new iPhone whether you have a computer or not.
iPhone messages are backed up via iCloud, which is great because it means that you can restore old messages to a new iPhone! This works best if you have a brand-new iPhone, as the iCloud backup from your old iPhone will replace any data on your new device.
As such, completing this process on a new iPhone which already contains messages could see a loss of data. To prevent losing any data, you can save content from an iPhone to your computer using TouchCopy.
OK, that said, let's get started!
First of all, plug in your old iPhone - the one containing all of your messages - to a power source, and turn on the Wi-Fi.
On the same iPhone, navigate to:
and make sure that "iCloud Backup" is switched on. The images below go through these steps on an iOS11 device.
Then...
Next, tap "Back up Now" to create a new iCloud backup of your device. Make sure that your iPhone stays plugged in and that Wi-Fi remains connected until this process is complete.
Now that your data is safely backed up to iCloud, you can tell your new iPhone to use this backup, and therefore load in all of your message conversations.
If you have not yet set up your new iPhone, turn it on and follow the setup wizard. When the wizard asks if you'd like to "Restore from iCloud Backup", choose this option and hit Next.
If you already completed the setup process, you'll need to reset your iPhone in order to use your iCloud backup. As mentioned above, please be advised that using this step means that any existing data on your new iPhone will be lost (as though you turned on the iPhone for the first time). To do this, go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase all content and settings.
Enter your Apple ID and password when prompted to complete the process. You'll now see that your old message conversations are accessible within the Messages app on your new iPhone!
If you prefer to use a computer, or you are unable to make use of a Wi-Fi connection, you can transfer your messages from iPhone to iPhone using an iTunes/Finder backup instead.
First, create a local backup of your iPhone which contains your desired messages using iTunes or Finder (macOS Catalina or higher).
Then, restore the backup to your new iPhone. Note that any existing data on your new iPhone will be overwritten by the backup you are restoring.
Ensure that you are happy with this before you proceed. You can transfer data from your new iPhone to your computer using a tool like TouchCopy.
Let's see how to restore a backup to a new iPhone using iTunes or Finder...
Check out Apple's guide if you have trouble restoring backups.
You may not want to perform a full backup and restore to a new iPhone (you may have already started using it and don't want to overwrite that new content with an older backup). In this case, you may just wish to export your iPhone messages to your computer for safekeeping.
To transfer SMS, MMS, iMessage or WhatsApp messages from an iPhone to a PC or Mac computer, you can use TouchCopy! Back up messages from your iPhone to your computer.
You can choose which conversations to save, and export them as HTML, PDF or Plain Text files to your computer. You can even print them out directly!
The backup and restore methods above (using iCloud/iTunes/Finder) will transfer WhatsApp chats as well as your SMS/MMS and iMessage conversations.
However, if you don't want to perform a full backup restore to your new device, you can choose to transfer only your WhatsApp chats!
Find out how to transfer WhatsApp chats to a new phone >
If you're switching from an Android to iPhone, you won't be able to make use of the iCloud/iTunes/Finder methods above. However, there are still ways to transfer your messages between your devices.
Check out our guide on how to transfer messages from Android to iPhone >
