Why won't all my texts restore on my new 950?

[MirthRock]

So, I was under the impression that text messages were stored separately from my Phone backups. I just got the new 950 yesterday and when I logged into my phone with my Microsoft account, it started to pull down all of my text messages. Just to be clear, I did not restore from a previous backup. However, it seems wildly inconsistent. Some text message threads (specifically the long running threads like the one between myself and the g/f) only go back until October 21st, yet I have other text message threads that have been restored all the way back through February of this year. And I seem to be missing some in between. It doesn't appear that the phone is still in the process of restoring my text messages. I'm confused - do I need to restore from a backup to get all of texts back? Can anybody please she some light on this.

Thanks!

 

[gpobernardo]

The completeness of SMS backups have been an "issue" ever since Windows Phone 8.1, where not all of the SMSs are backed up, especially the more recent ones. SMS backups don't occur everyday (perhaps only monthly), but in general it should coincide with the time when the phone creates a back up (the user is normally prompted to do this periodically).

Also, restoring messages may take some time - it may appear to have stopped restoring, but just leave it running and you'll find more messages when you return.

After about six hours, it's safe to presume that the restore/transfer process has been completed, and all the missing SMSs have not yet been backed up.

You may manually initiate a backup sequence in your old device. Once that's done, you should begin seeing those missing messages in your new phone.

 

[marpamcy]

So, I was under the impression that text messages were stored separately from my Phone backups. I just got the new 950 yesterday and when I logged into my phone with my Microsoft account, it started to pull down all of my text messages. Just to be clear, I did not restore from a previous backup. However, it seems wildly inconsistent. Some text message threads (specifically the long running threads like the one between myself and the g/f) only go back until October 21st, yet I have other text message threads that have been restored all the way back through February of this year. And I seem to be missing some in between. It doesn't appear that the phone is still in the process of restoring my text messages. I'm confused - do I need to restore from a backup to get all of texts back? Can anybody please she some light on this.

Thanks!

Bro you are holding a 950 in your hands and you have a g/f ?!!!!! What's the whining about ???!!!!!

 

[MirthRock]

Bro you are holding a 950 in your hands and you have a g/f ?!!!!! What's the whining about ???!!!!!

Bruh, I know...sometimes that fact is lost on me, hahaha!!!!!!

 

[MirthRock]

The completeness of SMS backups have been an "issue" ever since Windows Phone 8.1, where not all of the SMSs are backed up, especially the more recent ones. SMS backups don't occur everyday (perhaps only monthly), but in general it should coincide with the time when the phone creates a back up (the user is normally prompted to do this periodically).

Also, restoring messages may take some time - it may appear to have stopped restoring, but just leave it running and you'll find more messages when you return.

After about six hours, it's safe to presume that the restore/transfer process has been completed, and all the missing SMSs have not yet been backed up.

You may manually initiate a backup sequence in your old device. Once that's done, you should begin seeing those missing messages in your new phone.

This is good info. Thank you. I'll give that a shot tonight.

 

[BryceMD]

Text backup has been an issue for a lot of people since they integrated Skype into messaging app.

For example, I have my texts backup setting as showing texts from the last year. It shows the past month then it goes to 2013.

 

[marpamcy]

Bruh, I know...sometimes that fact is lost on me, hahaha!!!!!!

LOL, enjoy your new phone, i envy you :winktongue:

 

[MirthRock]

Text backup has been an issue for a lot of people since they integrated Skype into messaging app.

For example, I have my texts backup setting as showing texts from the last year. It shows the past month then it goes to 2013.

I'm going to try restoring a backup to my test phone tonight and seeing if the old texts are included. Then I'm going to switch to Skype Messenger, force a backup and see if the 950 starts pulling them down. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[crav4speed]

I'm going to try restoring a backup to my test phone tonight and seeing if the old texts are included. Then I'm going to switch to Skype Messenger, force a backup and see if the 950 starts pulling them down. I'll let you know how it goes.

Don't waste your time! SMS restore has been an issue since build 10581 when they started with the integrated Skype messaging app. They claim it was resolved with an app update and server-side updates for the 10586 build but it's still an issue and very few of my old sms were restored.

The only way is to downgrade to WP8.1 if you can, restore your messages, upgrade to W10M and then the new SMS will be restored. People with a 950 do not have that option though.

 

[MirthRock]

Don't waste your time! SMS restore has been an issue since build 10581 when they started with the integrated Skype messaging app. They claim it was resolved with an app update and server-side updates for the 10586 build but it's still an issue and very few of my old sms were restored.

The only way is to downgrade to WP8.1 if you can, restore your messages, upgrade to W10M and then the new SMS will be restored. People with a 950 do not have that option though.

So does that mean that they actually have been backed up somewhere, but they're just not all restored? I'm okay with that as long as they'll eventually get back to my phone when Microsoft fixes it. I just get nervous that they weren't actually backed up in the first place...although, that would make sense. In 10581 the messages were sporadically restored and they were different than the messages that were restored on my 10586 build.

 

[BryceMD]

They seem to be all backed up. Although it is currently sporadic what gets restored. On each build I always do a hard reset with no backup, and always get random messages restored. Sometimes from 2013, sometimes 2014.

I *believe* it will go back to normal on some build or maybe even app update, but there hasn't been much in the way of an official response on the issue.

 

[jeffaz76]

I am having issues with restoring SMS and mms from the cloud. Switching from a 1020 to 950. I wound up using the contacts-messaging app to manually transfer. It got everything over from my 1020, but unthreaded the group mms.

 

[crav4speed]

So does that mean that they actually have been backed up somewhere, but they're just not all restored? I'm okay with that as long as they'll eventually get back to my phone when Microsoft fixes it. I just get nervous that they weren't actually backed up in the first place...although, that would make sense. In 10581 the messages were sporadically restored and they were different than the messages that were restored on my 10586 build.

Yes, they are still backed up in the cloud. My old 920 with wp8.1 has all the sms messages restored up until the date i installed build 10581 on my 1520 which started using the new skype system.

 

[MirthRock]

Just as an FYI, I performed a restore on my test 640 from an old 8.1 backup that I had. I did NOT have a SIM card in the phone. None of the texts restored. This proves that texts are not backed up in any of the actual backup files. Hopefully, Microsoft fixes the restore issue at some point. I was really hoping to be able reference some of those old texts.

 

[jeffaz76]

Just as an FYI, I performed a restore on my test 640 from an old 8.1 backup that I had. I did NOT have a SIM card in the phone. None of the texts restored. This proves that texts are not backed up in any of the actual backup files. Hopefully, Microsoft fixes the restore issue at some point. I was really hoping to be able reference some of those old texts.

You might be able to see them on outlook.com, Click the gear icon, Manage Categories, Check Show in Folder Pane for Contacts. Go back to the folder pane, Click Contacts under Categories, and arrange by Conversation. Some texts to me show up there.

 

[MirthRock]

You might be able to see them on outlook.com, Click the gear icon, Manage Categories, Check Show in Folder Pane for Contacts. Go back to the folder pane, Click Contacts under Categories, and arrange by Conversation. Some texts to me show up there.

This is even more confusing. I see some texts there but not all. Oddly, I don't see some of the ones that my 950 already restored. Where did Outlook pull those from?! And where is my 950 pulling them from?! *scratches head*

 

[scottwallace5]

Hey Jeffaz, I was wondering if you can tell me step by step how you used the contacts+messaging app to transfer your texts over. I, like many others is taking FOREVER for the text messages to populate onto my Lumia 950 from my 920. I tried doing the contacts+messaging app to do it by saving it on my 920, uploading that file to OneDrive then downloading the file onto the 950 SMS folder that it created. But whenever I try to restore, it has it blocked out/not seeing it. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Xsled]

Leave your old phone on too.

 

[Skyway]

How about restoring texts from an android phone? Or am I sol?

 

[jeffaz76]

This is even more confusing. I see some texts there but not all. Oddly, I don't see some of the ones that my 950 already restored. Where did Outlook pull those from?! And where is my 950 pulling them from?! *scratches head*

Welcome to the Windows phone messaging rabbit hole. I also have a folder called messaging. That has texts from 2012 to 2014. I think those are from when Facebook was integrated. Then they removed Facebook and it was just sms. Now with 10 they have integrated skype into the messaging app. It's not so much integrated with sms but the messaging app is like a linked inbox where you can see both. So they add that feature which I don't need but as of now don't have linked inbox for email which I do use. The new messaging app has an issue with keeping group mms threads together I think. Maybe that has something to do with the restore issues. They have made several changes over the years and things are a mess in sms.