iPhone SMS to Android Converter

Step 1: How to find your iPhone SMS database

Jailbreakers: You can either follow the "iTunes Users" instructions, or install OpenSSH via Cydia and use something like scp, WinSCP or Fugu to copy "/var/Mobile/Library/SMS/sms.db" to your desktop.

iTunes Users: If you have a recent backup of your iPhone, or haven't received any new SMS you'd like to move to your Android phone since the last backup, you can skip the first step:

  1. make a backup in iTunes (right-click your iPhone icon in the left pane)
  2. depending on your operating system, go to the folder
    • Windows 7/Vista: "C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\"
    • Windows XP: "C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\"
    • Mac OS X: "~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/"
    • Linux: "/itunes/?/you're/kidding/me/right/?" (seriously, i have no idea if that's ever gonna happen)
  3. if there's more than one folder in there, look for the one which doesn't have a timestamp (-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS) at the end, and open it
  4. copy the file "3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28.mddata" to your desktop
    • older iTunes versions use the extension ".mdbakup"
    • on Mac OS X Lion the file doesn't have any file extension
  5. optional: rename "3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28.mddata" to "sms.db", if you're a neat-freak

Step 2: Use iSMS2droid

Option 1) Get iSMS2droid on the Android Market

Option 2) Convert your iPhone SMS database online

This allows you to convert your iPhone's SMS database to a XML file which you can save to your computer for easy reading (if you check "Fancy"), further processing or importing on your Android device with the free app SMS Backup & Restore by Ritesh Sahu (Android Market Link). It does not have all the bells and whistles of the Android App, so i highly recommend getting that one instead!

2011-08-01: Unbelievable, i know: i made an Android App based on the code i use for this page, but now with over 9000 times more awesome! You can even select conversation threads and import only those, instead of the whole database (which you're able to do, too). And you get full privacy, your SMS database is always in your hands, it's all done on your Android phone! You can of course still use this page, if you really want to, but the App is so much better... give it a shot!

2011-05-10: I have improved the handling of Unicode characters, you should now be able to throw pretty much any language at it (hebrew, korean, etc.). As i don't have an iPhone, i can't thoroughly test it, but if you had problems with funny characters in the past, please try again and let me know how it works out!

NEWS: Sorry, but i had to put up some ads, which hopefully cover some of my bandwidth costs... i would have never thought that many people would one day actually use it! But don't worry, this tool will always be free to use. Donations are welcome, though!



Privacy Reminder / Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that you're uploading your probably most private communications to my server. I could read all of your nasty stuff, but i don't. Honestly. This tool deletes your upload immediately after processing it and returning the result to you, and only you. Even if the processing fails, the uploaded file is deleted nevertheless. If wouldn't even have enough disk space to save all that data. So, i don't take any responsibility for anything you do with your private files, especially not if you're uploading them to some strangers website (which would be mine, in case you didn't follow). Don't hold me liable if your girlfriend breaks up with you after reading your texts to that other girl. She didn't get them from me. Just sayin'. In fact, don't hold me liable for anything that happened because you used my tool. Now that this has been made clear, go on... if you dare:



(include a header for an XSL stylesheet, makes the XML easier to read in a browser)

Step 3: Import your messages on Android

If you used Option 1 (the App):

Install SMS Backup & Restore (Android Market Link) to your Android phone, launch it, tap on "Restore", select "iSMS2droid.xml", done!

If you used Option 2 (converted online):

Connect your Android phone to your computer and enable the USB Mass Storage mode, or put your phone's SD card into a card reader. If it doesn't exist yet, create the folder SMSBackupRestore on the SD card and copy the downloaded XML into that folder. Now unplug your Android phone from USB, or disable USB sharing, otherwise you won't be able to access your phone's storage from SMS Backup & Restore. Install SMS Backup & Restore (Android Market Link) on your Android phone, launch it, tap on "Restore", select the XML file you copied over and voilá! (that's french for "tada!")


Step 4: Give Feedback (optional)

Please check if all your messages are there and if everthing looks fine. I'm happy to help if anything is not working the way it was supposed to, but for that i need to know that something didn't work as expected. The easiest way to get in touch with me is via email. This also, or rather especially, applies to the App - i'm a total beginner with Java, but i got that far that i wrote this App, and in all my testing it behaved as intended. If you think otherwise, get in touch with me before giving it a bad rating on the Android Market, and i'll try to sort out whatever is wrong with it. Thanks!