# iPhone question: Any way I can save my text messages as I upgrade to 3G? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344 "2009-06-19T22:58:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344/1 "2009-06-19T22:58:46Z")
The title says it all. As I understand it, in the process of switching to a 3G phone I will lose all text messages and voice messages. Any way to save either of these? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344/2 "2009-06-20T01:01:18Z")
Is it jailbroken by any chance? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344/3 "2009-06-20T02:03:50Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > The title says it all. As I understand it, in the process of switching to a 3G phone I will lose all text messages and voice messages. Any way to save either of these? > > Thanks. You can use [PhoneView](http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/). ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344/4 "2009-06-20T04:27:00Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Is it jailbroken by any chance? I’m not familiar with that term. I’m just going from a a 1st generation to the 3G. [QUOTE=beowulff] You can use PhoneView. [/QUOTE] Wow. That looks pretty cool. I might just have to try that. As it turns out, my concern was for naught. All my voicemails and texts showed up on my new phone. I was told by someone in an Apple store that I would lose them. But then when I went back to pick up the new phone, a more knowledgeable girl told me a should still have them. She was right. I still may get that program though, I’m going to look into it. I like the idea that I can save all the texts as, well, text on my computer. Much thanks. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344/5 "2009-06-20T04:31:23Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > I’m not familiar with that term. I’m just going from a a 1st generation to the 3G. > > Wow. That looks pretty cool. I might just have to try that. > > As it turns out, my concern was for naught. All my voicemails and texts showed up on my new phone. I was told by someone in an Apple store that I would lose them. But then when I went back to pick up the new phone, a more knowledgeable girl told me a should still have them. She was right. I still may get that program though, I’m going to look into it. I like the idea that I can save all the texts as, well, text on my computer. > > Much thanks. I got it as part of the last MacHeist bundle. I can’t say I’ve used it, though. But, someday it may come in handy… ---
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344/6 "2009-06-22T01:09:59Z")
You shouldn’t need to do anything. If you back up your phone with iTunes, you should be able to restore that backup onto your new phone. Should be absolutely seamless, just about everything will be exactly how it was on your old iphone, just faster and spiffier. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344/7 "2009-06-22T14:11:19Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > I’m not familiar with that term. [Jailbreak = hack a phone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jailbreak_(iPhone)), and frankly if the OP had done that they probably would already know how to extract the messages. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344/8 "2009-06-22T16:25:48Z")
For the record, I just upgraded from the original iPhone to the 3Gs. This is what happened… [ul][li]The AT&T guy set up the new phone on iTunes in the store and handed it to me, already “live”[/li][li]When I got home, I started iTunes and plugged in the phone.[/li][li]iTunes then told me that it knew about another phone (my old one), and it asked if I wanted to restore the backup of the old phone onto the new one. I did so.[/li][li]All of my data was perfect—no text messages lost, no contacts lost.[/li][/ul]One minor detail: I upgraded my old phone’s firmware to 3.0 last Thursday. Perhaps that made the migration more seamless. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-question-any-way-i-can-save-my-text-messages-as-i-upgrade-to-3g/500344/9 "2009-06-22T18:26:11Z")
I think that it was because you synched your phone when you upgraded the software, not because of the software itself.