URGENT - Export SMS History That Was Deleted

[adamzeit]

Hi Guys. I have an iPhone 2.2.1 (2G) that my daughter is using. I have a feeling that these is some SMS communications going on between her and someone fairly dangerous to her (mentally and/or physically). I took a peak at her iPhone the other day, but she keeps her SMS "clean" with nothing but a few of her girl friends, me and her mom.

So - does the iPhone keep a history (somewhere deep in the logs) of SMS message after someone deletes it from the standard UI interface? If so - how can I get access to this log in a fairly unobtrusive way? The phone is NOT jailbroken...but I suppose I could do that if necessary (not sure how long I can get access to the phone).

Dislaimer....my daugther is under the age of 18, the phone is in MY name and I am the legal account holder. So, I'm not asking for help with anything illegal.

Anyone have ideas? I would really like to get to the bottom of this. Thanks.

[Mes]

If you have access to her computer and she sync's w/iTunes, iTunes makes a backup of the SMS database. There are many ways to get to that backup. iTwin is a newly released Windows utility that manages the task quickly and does not require any jb'ing or unlocking.

[adamzeit]

Mes - thanks. She is actually on a MAC. Is there an easy way to do that on a MAC with the latest version of iTunes?

Mes - thanks. She is actually on a MAC. Is there an easy way to do that on a MAC with the latest version of iTunes?

Actually - I found this....with instructions - thanks again!

[ame=http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=667277]Extracting / Recovering SMS Message from Itunes Back-up - Mac Forums[/ame]

[Mes]

I'm sure there is, but never tried. I have seen threads on MMI about extracting files from an iTunes cryptic backup. The file you need is sms.db (located on the iPhone /private/var/mobile/Library/SMS). It will take a bit of searching, but the information is available. Once you have the file, there are other utilities to view the data including the very low-level free sqlite3 database program.

Another idea, DiskAid can access the iPhone using the USB cable and I'm pretty sure it doesn't require a jb'd phone. You might be able to get the file directly from the iPhone this way.

[adamzeit]

I'm sure there is, but never tried. I have seen threads on MMI about extracting files from an iTunes cryptic backup. The file you need is sms.db (located on the iPhone /private/var/mobile/Library/SMS). It will take a bit of searching, but the information is available. Once you have the file, there are other utilities to view the data including the very low-level free sqlite3 database program.

Another idea, DiskAid can access the iPhone using the USB cable and I'm pretty sure it doesn't require a jb'd phone. You might be able to get the file directly from the iPhone this way.

Thanks again. I think I have a plan to extract and review this evening. Much appreciated.