Transfer My Data Almost Copies iPhone Text Messages

[nx_2000]

I'm migrating from an iPhone 4 (iOS 6) to the Icon and tried without much success to transfer text messages to my new phone. I was able to transfer contacts successfully... and the Text Message option does appear when I pair my iPhone, but is says "0 Found," quite the contrary from what is actually on the phone. Since it seems like the transfer app wants to work, I'm wondering if any of you guys know a "weird trick" to make it happen.

 

[worldspy99]

See if this old thread helps you out.
http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/200881-transferring-sms-iphone-4s-lumia-920-a.html

 

[Curtieson]

There is a key in the Nokia's description that I think gives us the answer.

Some phones may also be capable of transferring text messages and pictures, including many Nokia phones

I've never done the transfer, I've never had an iPhone. But every comment I've found at WPCentral just relates transferring contacts from the iPhone.

 

[Curtieson]

See if this old thread helps you out.
http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/200881-transferring-sms-iphone-4s-lumia-920-a.html

There weren't to many answers in that but did find this helpful.

This is what "Transfer my Data" will transfer:

Platform	Contacts	Text Messages	Pictures
Windows Phone	Yes	Yes	No1
Symbian4	Yes	Yes	Yes
Series 40 (Nokia)5	Yes	Yes	Yes
Android	Yes	No	No2
iOS	Yes	No	No3
BlackBerry	Yes	No	No
1,2,3 Transfer via SkyDrive is the recommended solution. 4 Symbian devices running S60 3.2 or above. 5 Recent Series 40 devices (e.g. Asha).

 

[nx_2000]

My hope was largely based on this more recent article which discusses expanded compatibility, and does list iOS 6 devices as capable of transferring text messages.

Nokia's Transfer my Data app now supports text message transfer from iOS and Android


[edit]

Just so we have a visual, here's a screenshot of what I'm looking at...



One of the things I tried was an alternative Bluetooth Stack from Cydia (this is a jailbroken phone). With the alternate stack, I just got a "nothing can be transferred" screen rather than what you see above.

 

[Curtieson]

Hmmm...iPhone 4 was the earliest model that had the MAP Bluetooth option...and iOS 6 was also the first, but your comments about your other trial makes it sound all OK.

That makes me wonder if jail breaking the phone 'stores' the texts in a not normal spot...so the app can't find them to transfer them. Can you back up the iPhone to the cloud then restore to factory and restore the backup? A lot of work but just an idea...

 

[nx_2000]

I have considered that... a lot of trouble but I am also considering borrowing an android phone to work as a go-between. As far as I know, jailbreaking doesn't alter how SMS are stored. My SMS.db is still where it's supposed to be.

 

[nx_2000]

I haven't done the phone reset, but I did encounter an unusual problem in the process of trying to read my SMS.db (and its iTunes backup). It's an SQlite database and some versions of SQlite Manager will not recognize it as an SQlite database. The Win32 version of SQlite Manager and an Android app used to convert iPhone text messages returned a "not an iPhone SMS database" error message. I would guess the Nokia Transfer My Data app is encountering a similar hiccup. However, the database DOES read normally on the phone itself with Ifile/SQlite, as well as the mozilla version of SQlite Manager.

The database verifies OK with "PRAGMA integrity_check," but something is obviously amiss. I don't think an iPhone restore would work as the database backup is basically a file copy without any sort of low level processing.

 

[lsquare]

OP,

Can you provide an update here whether you were able to successfully transfer your text messages over or not?

 

[TechAbstract]

You can go to your phone carrier. They have a device to do the transfer.

 

[Allison Miller]

To transfer iPhone text messages to another phone, I suggest you use Jihosoft Phone Transfer. I switched from iPhone 4 to Galaxy S6. When googled a way to transfer SMS from iPhone to Android, I found this tool. Really worked.