Download all texts before switch phone (basic to Smartphone)?

[rick1441]

Hi.  I am finally switching from a Verizon Wireless nine-year-old basic phone to an Android smartphone.  I haven't received the new phone yet.

My question:  Is there a way to download all 143 of my old text messages (not "conversations", since it's a basic phone) before I switch.  I can only find the last ~90 days of messages to download on the Verizon Wireless website messaging.  My basic phone has a microSD slot, which I've used to copy all the pictures, but I don't see any commands for copying texts, so I am guessing that is not an option.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[vzw_customer_support]

rick1441, congratulations on your new phone. Currently there is not an easy way to transfer text messages from a basic phone to a smartphone, but I am confident that we can find a way to do it. What is the make and model of your basic phone and your new phone?

-JacobV_VZW

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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[rick1441]

Thanks, JacobV.  I now have the Motorola E815.  I haven't finalized which smartphone it will be yet.  Most likely the Samsung Galaxy S7 or iPhone 6S, or possibly the more budget-conscious LG K20V.

[vzw_customer_support]

We definitely understand being careful with your selection of a new device. When you are sure which one you are getting, please let us know and we will do our best to find a way to transfer your information from the E815 to the new phone.

JosephT_VZW

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If my response answered your question please click the 'Correct Answer' button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!

[rick1441]

Thanks.  I got a Samsung Galaxy S6 (instead of the S7), but am holding off on activating as I plan the best way to migrate texts.  BTW, what I am specifically trying to avoid, if possible, is any solution which involves my re-texting or emailing each message one at a time.

[removed]

Discussion of moderation removed as required by the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service​.

Message edited by Verizon Moderator.

[rick1441]

Too late to edit...meant to add that I only have one line of service, I am not adding a new line for the S6.

[vzw_customer_support]

rick1441, I certainly understand how vitally important your text messages are to you. You can forward text messages sent to your mobile number to an e-mail address to save the content of the messages. Please keep in mind that the original sender's information, including number, time and date, will be lost when you forward the messages.

When you receive the e-mail with the message content, it will show the time and date that you forwarded the message. You can then print out the forwarded text messages from your computer. I know this may not be the option you'd like, but I wanted to provide the best option to help you preserve your text messages.

Additionally, since you'll be upgrading to a new device, I recommend using the Content Transfer option to transfer your current device's stored data to your new phone. This website link provides additional information about this process at: http://vz.to/2nLuBCv. Once you’ve accessed the website please scroll down to the section titled “From a basic phone to smartphone” and click open the link provided. I hope this is helpful. - RobertC_VZW

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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!

[rick1441]

[removed]

Regardless, since the new phone was not yet activated, I texted all my texts, one by one, to myself.  Before texting each method, I added the receipt date the the beginning, since that date isn't preserved on forwarded.  Then I went to Verizon Cloud and printed this 140-message "conversation" with myself to a pdf file.  So the entire history is on one nicely-formatted document, which is more convenient than dealing with 140 separate emails.

Of course, if anyone sees this in the future, recall that this approach will ONLY work as long as long as the phone you are trying to transfer messages is still active, so if you only have one line of service, do it before activating the new phone.

Discussion of moderation removed as required by the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service​.

Message edited by Verizon Moderator.

[rick1441 · Accepted solution]

Since I was rushing, I badly garbled a couple sentences while describing my solution, and was not completely clear on other points (Also, the previously "missing" posts seem to have reappeared.) Since it is now too late to edit, I am re-posting with revisions, and marking this the Correct Answer:

Since the new phone was not yet activated, I texted all my texts, one by one, to myself.  Before texting each message, I added the original receipt date to the beginning, since that date isn't preserved on forwarding.  Then I went to the MyVerizon website's "Send a Message" function (under "My Plans & Services") and printed this 140-message "conversation" with myself to a pdf file.  (I was actually going to "Send a Message"  intermittently while texting, to ensure the messages were indeed showing up there.  Of course they were coming to my phone as well, which I deleted since they were duplicates.)

So the entire history is now on one nicely-formatted document, which is more convenient than dealing with 140 separate emails.   This all took awhile -- especially with double-checking to ensure everything was there -- but it actually wasn't as bad as I expected.

Of course, if anyone sees this in the future, recall that this method requires that phone you are trying to transfer messages from is still active on the VZW network. So if you only have one line of service, hold off on activating the new phone until you have created and saved or printed the document.