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Is there a way (built in or 3rd party) to sync SMS messages (not iMessages) between 2 iPhones?

The scenario is that I have an old iPhone and a new iPhone that is already configured. Because of this I don't want to use the method of restoring a backup of the old iPhone onto the new iPhone. I'm primarily looking for a way to get the messages from the old phone onto the new phone, rather than keep them in sync.

One possible limitation is that the old iPhone is an iPhone 4 so is only running 7.1.2

Matthew Steeples
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  • Whole bunch of suggestions for export here - http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/6900/how-can-i-export-sms-text-messages-from-my-iphone?rq=1 - but no-one mentions import – Tetsujin Oct 10 '15 at 15:52

1 Answers1

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No. The sandbox that contains app data prevents this as does the restore wiping instead of merging data functionality you are already aware of.

  • You can back one phone up and restore it to the other.
  • You can use iMessage to sync things in a forward direction ( new messages can sync well )
  • You can use a tool like Phoneview to export all the messages from multiple devices and collate / combine / preserve them on your Mac.

Some commercial transfer products and apps claim to do this, but I haven't seen anything consumer focused on the App Store to do this transfer or merge without jail breaking the device you want to do the "merge" - perhaps someone is more clever or informed and has a "yes" solution.

Community
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bmike
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  • I'm interested in your second bullet point if you wouldn't mind clarifying that. Would I be able to move over my current text messages to my new device? I don't have any messages on the new phone, just don't want to reset the configuration and apps I've already set up – Matthew Steeples Oct 10 '15 at 16:18
  • No joy there @MatthewSteeples from my experience. iMessage doesn't seem to reach backwards to sync data. If you were to sign into iMessage on both devices, and try using them for a week you might get enough history that you might be happy moving forward with that solution – bmike Oct 10 '15 at 16:19