How to Backup and Restore SMS Messages Using PKGBackup [Video Tutorial]

One of the most frustrating things that I’ve encountered with the iPhone, is doing backups and restores. Now admittedly, most people are okay with this, they just backup their iPhone with iTunes and restore with whenever necessary.

I like to take the backup and restore process a bit more seriously. For instance, I’ve actually created a starting point “stock” iTunes backup with all of my favorite apps, settings, mail accounts, etc.

Secondly, I have a separate backup for all of my jailbreak apps, tweaks, and settings. For this, I use PKGBackup.

I’ve found that the combination of the iTunes backup coupled with PKGBackup makes for a quick, and painless restore back to my favorite settings.

There’s one problem with this methodology though; it doesn’t backup all of my SMS messages

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoUXhMstBtU[/tube]

The main reason why SMS messages have to remain separate in my backup process, is because SMS messages are dynamic, you’re always receiving more messages each day.

Unlike email, there’s no cloud syncing options with SMS messages, there’s only the static iTunes backup.

The problem with this is that all of my SMS messages are lost when I restore to my stock “starting point” backup.

In order to work around this issue, I simply create a standalone SMS backup that I can restore to at any time.

Four Basic Steps For Backing Up and Restoring SMS Messages

1: Restore to iTunes backup

2: Jailbreak your device

3: Restore PKGBackup Settings

4: Restore PKGBackup SMS info

How do you normally handle backing up your SMS messages? Do you generally just stick with iTunes, or do you use some other method to accomplish something similar to what I’ve done?

I’m interested to hear your thoughts and comments about the process, so let me know in the comments section below.

For more info, be sure to check out our in-depth PKGBackup guide. For an abundance of iPhone video tutorials, feel free to check out the YouTube channel as well.