Android was supposed to fix the way it backs up data and messages as far back as Android 8.0 Oreo in 2017. Google recently refined the mechanism when it switched to Google One, its all-in-one subscription and cloud data offering. While data backup has improved, it's also a veritable "black box." It's hard to verify what's been saved and even harder to view the data.
I'm taking backups back into my own hands, like in the Android days of yore. Actually, one of the throwback apps, SMS Backup and Restore, is still one of the best for backing up text messages, and it's included in this guide on backing up messages in Android. I'll also walk you through how to back up archives for secondary messaging apps, including WhatsApp and Signal, two oft-used third-party messengers.
Start with Google One
Credit: Florence Ion / LifehackerYou can check the status of this to see when it was last backed up. Open your phone's Settings panel, then look for the backup option. If it's your first time, you'll get on-screen instructions to turn on backup. If not, you should be able to see what's been backed up so far. If you're on the Pixel launcher, scroll down to find a list of Backup details to browse. Tap to see what's in the vault.
Credit: Florence Ion / LifehackerGoogle One's backup methodology is merely a "sync," not a true data archive. If you accidentally delete a thread from messages, its backup would also be removed from the cloud, and you couldn't restore it. Google makes it clear, even in its developer documentation, that backup data can't be accessed by a user or other apps on the device. So what's a user to do? Call upon an old faithful: SMS Backup & Restore.
Set up SMS Backup & Restore
Credit: Florence Ion / LifehackerIt's easy to set up. Download and install the app from the Google Play Store. The app is free with ads, or you can pay a one-time fee of $6 to remove them and unlock extra abilities, like more cloud storage. Then grant it access to your contacts and messages. Tap the option to set up a backup, and choose Messages. (You can also include call logs if you want.) Then, pick your destination. I back up to Google Drive into its own archive folder. Dropbox, OneDrive, and WebDAV are also options.
SMS Backup & Restore also lets you peruse through all that data after it's synced. The easiest way is through the mobile app, which lets you search conversations, and through SyncTech's web viewer, where you can upload the XML file it generates and thumb through it as if it were a messaging app on your phone. SyncTech says all processing is done on the browser and nothing is uploaded to any servers. If you'd rather not upload your conversations through the Web Viewer, you can try opening it with Excel instead. And if you're particularly adept, there are plenty of third-party XML readers available, though they're not all fully compatible with how SMS Backup & Restore saves logs.
WhatsApp and Signal
WhatsApp can create a local backup on your phone's internal storage every day at a set time. This is the most direct way to handle your own WhatsApp chat data. You'll find your data in the WhatsApp app database on your device's internal storage. WhatsApp can also automatically back up to Google Drive on Android devices. Unfortunately, Google started counting WhatsApp backups toward your Google Drive storage quota. But the app shows you how much room you have in your Drive account if you are backing up that way.
Credit: Florence Ion / LifehackerSignal is a little trickier at backup. Since it's built on the premise of extreme privacy, it prioritizes local backup and doesn't back up to the cloud. Only recently, in the latest beta for Android devices, has Signal added push-button backup. And it's technically still getting its kinks sussed out.
Credit: Florence Ion / LifehackerSignal eschews the ability to back up to a third-party service. Instead, it will back up the last 45 days of media and text messages for free. Any more than that, and you'll have to pay $2/month for a full backup of your messages. It also grants you 100GB of photo storage.
Backing up isn't a one-and-done task. It's something you have to get into the habit of doing. The best way to ensure you don't lose those "receipts" is to make it a habit to check on your backups. Keep Google One, WhatsApp, and Signal's cloud backups turned on, then set SMS Backup & Restore to run once a week, or, if you're lighter on that app than on others, once a month.
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