Long story short, I'm likely going to have my iPhone 5 replaced today. I want to ensure that my messages are transfered to the new phone (or at least saved in some way – it could even be a text file for all I care).
From what I'm reading, if I do an iCloud backup, the new phone will be restored and I should have my messages. However I would feel better if I could see them on my iPod touch ahead of time for a number of reasons:
- When I view the data in the iPhone backup (by going to Settings –> iCloud –> Storage & Backup –> Manage Storage –> iPhone), there is no "Messages" app in the list of Backup Options, so I'm suspicious that they aren't backed up at all.
- It will likely take a long time to restore the 3GB backup, so I'm not sure if I can do it at the store while I'm there to verify, before I give them my old phone.
So now I'm trying to sync the messages from the phone to the iPod somehow. I have the iPhone backup in iCloud, but I cannot see it or find any way to restore it on the iPod. How can I do this? Is it even possible, given that the phone is on iOS 7 but the iPod is on 5.1.1? Note, I do not have access to a computer to do any kind of wired sync, if that's necessary.
EDIT: The iPod is 3rd Generation. The iPhone is an iPhone 5.
Best Answer
Nope, the iOS 7 backup can't be restored to the iOS 5 device through iCloud.
iCloud Backup will backup almost everything on the device including the contents of /var/mobile which therefore includes your messages as well as other data. There is never any 'Messages' option in iCloud Backup, but if the backup was successful then it has been backed up.