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I am trying to save text messages for a particular caller.

In the Message+ app, in the "Conversations" window, I long-press on the caller and select Save messages. The next window "Save Conversations" shows a default file name (which I can change if so desired). Then I click Save and that window closes and it returns to the Conversations window.

If I long click again and go to "Save Conversations", it shows the file I saved.

Screenshot

I want to know where this file is on the filesystem or be able to send that file in an email. As it is, I can only Restore, which is not what I need.

Looking in the file browser, I do not see this file in Downloads, or anywhere.

The mobile service is Xfinity/Verizon. I called them and they were not able to help

Device: Pixel 6a
Android version: 14

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  • Please also link the app, so that future readers can know which is the app you are referring to//From the context and tags I could figure out that it is from Verizon (and therefore not shown in Play Store for me, since Verizon doesn't operate in India)
    – beeshyams
    Commented Dec 27, 2023 at 7:15
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    I rolled back the edit because the screenshot isn't related to the original issue. Instead, I've edited one of your comments on the answer to include the link to the screenshot.
    – Andrew T. ♦
    Commented Jan 2 at 14:25

2 Answers 2

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Note that if the file is saved in app directory, it may not be accessible to you unless your device is rooted

Since Verizon isn't helping you, you may like to explore a third party solution as explained in my answer here

To summarize :

  1. Install SMS Backup and restore and take a back up of your SMSes.

  2. From the app see "Backed up (time)" and tap view details. It will list SMS Backup. Tap on that to view conversations and all your conversations are listed. From the 3 dots menu against the conversation you want select print conversation and it will be printed as a PDF file with date and time stamps. It will show both sent and received SMSes.

  3. Send the PDF file by mail.

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  • Just a note. The first week of this app if free. After that it is $13 per WEEK which is outrageous.
    – Al Lelopath
    Commented Dec 31, 2023 at 14:03
  • Look at the FAQ for the difference between ordinary and paid version//I have got the ordinary version running for years and this answer is based on that!
    – beeshyams
    Commented Dec 31, 2023 at 15:51
  • The free version has ads while the paid does not.// The paid version has options to compress and encrypt the backup files.// The paid version has support for using WebDAV as a cloud location for backups.// None of these are required for the answer I wrote// Even the pro one costs less than $ 6 as a one time buy //IDK what figures you are quoting// Link to the paid app
    – beeshyams
    Commented Dec 31, 2023 at 15:57
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    I've added a screenshot of the renewal notice
    – Al Lelopath
    Commented Jan 1 at 17:12
  • @AlLelopath sorry logged in after a long while, maybe it's a region specific thing, I understand developers can do that(I am not one)
    – beeshyams
    Commented Feb 9 at 9:20
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I think I've finally found it! On my phone the location is /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.verizon.messaging.vzmsgs/data/files/VZMessages. I'd expect that maybe some devices have a different location of Android, such as maybe /sdcard. I used an app called App Manager to find this external data location of the app.

Note that I can't see the files in my file explorer app on the phone (can't even see the Android/data folder). It sounds like Android has tried to lock down file access quite a bit.

However, on my Pixel 6 (Android 14) device I am able to access the files through USB with either adb from android's "platform-tools" (adb pull /storage/... and adb push ./something /storage/... -- need to enable debugging on the phone for this), or (easier) by connecting the device as MTP/media transfer (for me when plugged in there is a notification which says "charging device - tap for more options", and tapping allows me to choose file transfer).

After doing the transfer down from the old phone and up to the new phone at the same location, I found that the app ("Message+") still was not finding anything for it's "Restore from SD Card". I think the problem was the permissions on the files, because I changed the permissions of the files (may be able to do with MTP, but in my case I used adb shell and then in the shell chmod -R a+w VZMessages/* and chmod -R a+r VZMessages/*) it saw the backups and I was able to restore from them!

I was trying all sorts of things such as trying to instrument with Frida/objection, adb backup (no luck with this), and finally was going to try automating scraping with appium. Hopefully this solution will help someone else in this situation!

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