How to Back Up Text Messages on Android: 5 Ways

This article was published in 2014 and updated in October 2026.

Text messages often hold important information and precious memories, and losing them when your phone breaks or you switch to a new one is frustrating. In 2014, backing up SMS on Android meant installing a third-party app. Today Android can back up your messages automatically, and a few dedicated apps add extra options. Here’s how to back up your text messages on an Android phone.

1. Google backup (built in)

The easiest option is already on your phone. Android’s built-in backup, part of Google One, saves your SMS and MMS messages together with apps, call history, contacts and device settings to your Google account. Turn it on under Settings → Google → Backup (the exact path varies by manufacturer) and make sure SMS & MMS messages is included. When you set up a new Android phone with the same Google account, your messages are restored automatically.

2. Google Messages and RCS chats

If you use Google Messages, your SMS, MMS and RCS chat messages are covered by the Google backup on the phone. You can also open Messages for web on a computer to read and send messages from your phone — handy, but it’s not a separate backup.

3. Samsung Smart Switch and Samsung Cloud

On Samsung Galaxy phones, Samsung Cloud can back up messages, and the free Smart Switch app transfers messages, photos and settings to a new phone, either wirelessly, by cable or from a backup on your computer. Other manufacturers offer similar transfer tools.

4. SMS Backup & Restore

SMS Backup & Restore, already on our 2014 list, is still one of the most popular dedicated apps. It saves your messages and call logs as files on your phone or to cloud storage such as Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, on a schedule you choose. Because the backup files are readable on a computer, it’s a good choice if you want a copy that is independent of your Google account — or need to archive messages for records.

5. G Cloud Backup

G Cloud Backup backs up messages along with contacts, photos and other data to its own encrypted cloud storage, with a limited amount of free space and paid plans for more.

What happened to the other apps?

Several apps from our 2014 list are no longer available in the Google Play Store or are no longer maintained. Root-only tools such as Titanium Backup are also much less relevant today, as modern Android versions make rooting harder and offer good built-in backups.

Tips for safe message backups

Check that your backup actually ran — look at the date of the last backup in your phone’s settings.
Remember that messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram have their own backup settings; turn them on separately.
Protect your Google or cloud account with a strong password and two-factor authentication, since your backup contains private conversations.
Switching from Android to iPhone? Apple’s free Move to iOS app transfers your messages during setup.