Do you find yourself wondering if you will lose text messages when you switch carriers? The answer to that unfortunate question is yes. As long as your text messages are stored on the SIM, the messages will probably be lost when you switch the carrier.
You will instantly lose text threads when changing your SIM card. If you store your text messages on your phone, you have a better chance of retaining them.
Let’s review how you can lose your text messages when you switch carriers. We also share some helpful tricks to help you avoid losing your text messages in this post.
What Happens to My Text Messages When I Switch Carriers?
When you switch your carriers, the text messages stored on your phone remain unaffected as those messages are not stored on your SIM cards/carriers. You keep all your messages as long as you do not change your phone.
If you change your phone and the text messages are stored within the phone, then you will lose all of them, and you will not find them in your new phone.
If the messages are stored on a SIM card, then your message threads are saved for as long as the SIM remains active and in your use. All your text messages are usually stored on your phone; however, you can manually move them to the SIM.
The text message history is safe on the phone for smartphones, so when you switch carriers, your messages will be easily accessible.
As for older phones, their configuration is to store the messages on the SIM, so in that case, switching carriers might turn out to be a problem. It might even take you longer than usual to retrieve the messages from the SIM card.
A simple solution is to keep a copy of the conversations in a folder on your device. This way, switching the carriers will not cause any message loss, and you will be able to get hold of them soon after.
Do I Need to Back Up My Phone Before Switching Carriers?
One of the main things to do before switching carriers is to back up the data. It is necessary to copy all your data beforehand so even when you switch carriers, you’re on the safe side.
Begin by backing up the contacts and text messages so you don’t lose a hand with all the vital information saved on your cell phone.
This is the best practice because trying to recover data once lost with no backup can be a real struggle. Be it Android or iOS, if there is no duplicate copy of data on the mobile, Google Drive, or iCloud, you will need to see a repair person.
Backing up Your Data For iPhone
You can back up your data by syncing your phone to your computer. You can easily transfer all of your data files by following these short steps before switching your carriers:
- Go to Settings > [your name]
- Tap on iCloud
- Now, tap on iCloud Backup
- And then click on Back Up Now
Your phone will start to back up your data, such as text messages and contacts. You can easily retrieve your data even after switching between the carriers.
Backing Up Your Data for Android
You can also back your data up for Android and easily switch your carriers without any data loss. The steps are as follows:
- Go to the phone’s Settings
- Select Google
- Then tap on Backup
- Tap Back up now.
Your data will back up in less than 24 hours, and you can then retrieve it or copy it to another location easily.
What Happens If You Take Your SIM Card Out?
A SIM card is a small memory chip that connects you to the network. You will lose your cellular connection when you take your SIM out of your phone. The carrier/SIM stores all your data and allows you to send/receive data and messages.
When you take your SIM out, your phone will show No Service, and the connection between the device and the SIM will not be active.
Your device and SIM card are no longer in contact, which means that the network provider of the SIM cannot trace your device. Due to the loss of signals, you will not be able to deliver calls and text messages.
You will not lose any of your data, like text messages and contact numbers, because these are on the SIM card by default. However, storing messages on the SIM was common for older phone brands.
When you put your SIM card back inside your phone, you will start receiving all your unread text messages and voicemail notifications that you did not receive earlier.
Do You Lose Text Messages When Switching Phones?
As previously stated, your text messages are usually stored in your phone’s memory, so you will lose your data when you make a switch between your cell phones.
It would be a headache for you to deal with the aftermath once you switch messages without having any backup.
Back up will help you save important text messages as you transition between your phones. By default, the messages are in your device’s memory unless you manually transfer them to the SIM card.
Storing Text Messages on Android
To back up your text messages on android phones, follow these steps:
- Open the Settings app.
- Select Google.
- Tap on Backup.
- Scroll down to the Backup details. Tap on SMS messages.
- Tap on the Back up now button to manually back up your data.
Your text messages will begin backing up, and the time duration will depend on the storage.
Backing up Text Messages for iPhone
To back up your text messages on your iPhone, follow these simple steps:
- Connect your iPhone to the Wi-Fi
- Go to Settings > click on your Apple ID
- Then tap on iCloud
- Turn on Backup Messages
It will take a while to back up your text messages. All your important text messages will be in iCloud, and you can recover them from any device at any time using the Internet.
Conclusion
When switching between the carriers, you might lose your data, like your text messages and contacts. If your text messages are in your phone’s memory, they are safe on the disk.
But if your messages are on the SIM itself, then there is a chance that you will lose your important texts.
You can avoid all this confusion by simply backing up your data, and your data will remain safe owing to the backup copy even if you switch between the carriers.
As for the phone, you will lose your text messages as soon as you change your phone because the messages are on the ROM.
Now that you know how you can lose your messages when you switch carriers, you should be able to help others with the same. We hope this article proves to be helpful to you. Happy Exploring!