SMS Backup & Restore and ChatAttic: the backup, and what to do with ten of them
SMS Backup & Restore is the app most Android users reach for to save their texts, and it deserves its reputation. It is also only half the job. The other half is the pile of backups it leaves behind.
What SMS Backup & Restore does well
It is free, it has been around for years, and it does one thing properly: it writes every SMS and MMS on the phone (and call logs if you want them) into an XML file, on a schedule, to local storage or to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. It can restore that file onto another Android phone. For moving texts to a new phone or keeping a safety copy, it is the right tool and there is no reason to replace it.
Where it stops
- The file is not meant to be read. It is XML with one element per message, media as base64 blobs, and timestamps as milliseconds. There is a viewer that renders it, but it is a backup format, not an archive you can browse.
- Backups accumulate. Scheduled backups produce a new file each time, each containing nearly everything the last one did. After three years and two phones you have dozens of files that overlap almost entirely.
- It is Android only, and texts only. Your WhatsApp exports, the iMessage history from the Mac, the Telegram JSON, all sit in other piles.
What ChatAttic does with the pile
ChatAttic reads SMS Backup & Restore's XML files directly, alongside WhatsApp exports, iMessage chat.db copies, Telegram JSON and Messenger and Instagram downloads. It compares messages by content, so ten overlapping backups collapse into one copy of each message, and it groups everything by conversation into ordinary readable files in ordinary folders. Run it again on next month's backup and only the new messages are added. Media comes out as files, not blobs.
| SMS Backup & Restore | ChatAttic | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Backup and restore app on the phone | Desktop archive builder |
| Gets texts off an Android phone | Yes | No, it reads the backups |
| Restores texts onto a phone | Yes | No |
| Readable, browsable archive | Viewer only | Yes, by conversation |
| Removes duplicates across backups | No | Yes, by content |
| Combines with WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram, Messenger | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Android | Windows, Linux |
| Price | Free, with a paid Pro version | One-time $59.99, free trial |
The setup that works
- Keep SMS Backup & Restore running on the phone, scheduled, saving to a cloud folder you can reach from your computer.
- Point ChatAttic at that folder, plus wherever your other chat exports live.
- Run it whenever you like. The archive only ever grows by what is new.
One makes the backup. The other makes the backups worth keeping. Use both.
What about the price?
SMS Backup & Restore is free, and nothing here suggests paying for a replacement. ChatAttic is a one-time $59.99 with a free trial that keeps up to 100 messages and never expires. What you are paying for is the archive: readable, de-duplicated, every platform's chats in one place, on your own computer.
Questions people ask
Can ChatAttic read SMS Backup & Restore files directly?
Yes. Point it at the XML files, or the folder they are saved into, and it reads SMS and MMS including attached media. Backups from different phones and dates are merged with duplicates removed.
Does ChatAttic put texts back on a phone?
No. It builds an archive on your computer. Restoring to a phone is what SMS Backup & Restore is for.
What happens to photos in MMS messages?
They are extracted from the backup and written as ordinary image files beside the conversation they belong to, so you can open them with anything.
Try ChatAttic on your own files
The download is free and fully working; the trial keeps up to 100 items and never expires. A one-time $59.99 licence removes the limit, with all 1.x updates included. Windows 10 or later and Linux. Nothing is uploaded, ever.
Get it now