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I'm trying to restore my SMS text messages from my rooted Nexus 5 with a broken screen (no display or touch capabilities) to my functioning but unrooted Nexus 5X.

I can turn the rooted phone to recovery mode and run any adb command (I managed to pull the mmssms.db file using adb), however, I naturally can't run adb push mmssms.db /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db to my unrooted phone.

Is there any way to restore the text messages some other way?

Again, I have full root access using adb to my rooted phone.

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I managed to restore my text messages using a borrowed 3rd phone that is rooted!

Using:

  • The rooted phone with the broken screen that you want to restore from (Phone A)
  • The rooted phone with the intact screen that you borrowed (Phone B)
  • The unrooted phone that you want to restore to (Phone C)

Do as follows:

  1. On Phone A:

    • Activate recovery mode and pull the mmssms.db file using adb: adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db mmssms-phone-A.db

  2. On Phone B:

    • Activate recovery mode and do the same: adb pull /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db mmssms-phone-B.db (use this later to restore the borrowed phone's text messages. Note the different file name)
    • While still in recovery mode, push the file you pulled from Phone A to the Phone B: adb push mmssms-phone-A.db /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
    • Change the file owner and permission of the mmssms.db file: adb shell then chown radio:radio /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db and chmod 0660 /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
    • Restart to regular mode
    • Install any SMS backup app (I used SMS Backup & Restore but any app would do)
    • Run the app to backup the text messages
    • Copy the backup file to some cloud service that you trust or to your desktop/laptop

  3. On Phone C

    • Copy the backup file from the cloud service or desktop/laptop
    • Install the same SMS backups app and use its restore function

Don't forget to restore the original mmssms.db to the 3rd party phone!

  1. On Phone B

    • Restart the phone to recovery mode
    • Push the mmssms.db file you pulled from Phone B back to it: adb push mmssms-phone-B.db /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
    • Change the file owner and permission of the mmssms.db file: adb shell then chown radio:radio /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db and chmod 0660 /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db

  2. Enjoy your restored text messages and return Phone B to the friend you borrowed it from ;)

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This is not possible, as you need root to access the /data folder (for unrooted Nexus 5X).

This question is similar: Can adb be used to recover SMS messages while in permanent “Safe Mode”?

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    Who said anything about directly accessing the /data folder? It is a bold claim stating that "This is not possible".
    – Firelord ♦
    Commented Feb 9, 2016 at 19:46
  • @Firelord Well, the SMS DB is in the /data folder. If he were to access / modify the files there, he'd need to have root access. Looking at the accepted answer, a rooted phone had to be used in the end.
    – geffchang
    Commented Feb 12, 2016 at 10:47
  • The third rooted phone was a mediator because the original rooted phone was busted. The second phone was never rooted. That's the point.
    – Firelord ♦
    Commented Feb 12, 2016 at 17:57

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