SMS/MMS database location change Android 7.0 Nougat?

[dlegit]

sorry if it seems like this is an easy one at first but i've been having some strange issues here.

i installed the 7.0 OTA on a new 5X that i'm about to switch to (coming from another 5X with a broken mic). both rooted. did a clean wipe on the new one with 7.0. moving data from the old to the new i can't get sms/mms to copy over. using titanium, rom toolbox, and carbon it won't work right. at first when i used carbon it only restored texts up to april this year. so i wiped them out and tried titanium etc. nothing works. then i went and directly copied the mmssms.db (and all the files) from /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony and still nothing. there were no texts showing in messenger app (tried textra too) so i sent a few test messages. those are showing up. but when i deleted the entire telephony folder within twrp, wiped cache and dalvik, rebooted those test messages are still showing up! when i browse to the new telephony folder that android created there's nothing in the folder. yet the text messages are still showing up. also the call log is still full (it actually restored properly with titanium).

i can't find any info that says the texts are stored anywhere besides the mmssms.db file so anyone know what i'm doing wrong?

recap:
-backed up sms/mms with carbon, titanium, rom toolbox (on android 6.0.1)
-fresh install 7.0
-restored with all those apps
-*partial restore*
-wiped com.android.providers.telephony folder
-manually copied backed up files into com.android.providers.telephony folder
-*nothing*
-sent a few texts through the app
-wiped com.android.providers.telephony folder
-*can still see texts with nothing in the folder*

-------------------
SOLVED
found it in /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony on the device running android N. don't know if it's like that for everyone but that's where it is on mine.

 

[wind0zer]

I used Titanium backup to backup call log/SMS from M and restore in N (clean install) with success.

 

[jsgraphicart]

sorry if it seems like this is an easy one at first but i've been having some strange issues here.

i installed the 7.0 OTA on a new 5X that i'm about to switch to (coming from another 5X with a broken mic). both rooted. did a clean wipe on the new one with 7.0. moving data from the old to the new i can't get sms/mms to copy over. using titanium, rom toolbox, and carbon it won't work right. at first when i used carbon it only restored texts up to april this year. so i wiped them out and tried titanium etc. nothing works. then i went and directly copied the mmssms.db (and all the files) from /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony and still nothing. there were no texts showing in messenger app (tried textra too) so i sent a few test messages. those are showing up. but when i deleted the entire telephony folder within twrp, wiped cache and dalvik, rebooted those test messages are still showing up! when i browse to the new telephony folder that android created there's nothing in the folder. yet the text messages are still showing up. also the call log is still full (it actually restored properly with titanium).

i can't find any info that says the texts are stored anywhere besides the mmssms.db file so anyone know what i'm doing wrong?

recap:
-backed up sms/mms with carbon, titanium, rom toolbox (on android 6.0.1)
-fresh install 7.0
-restored with all those apps
-*partial restore*
-wiped com.android.providers.telephony folder
-manually copied backed up files into com.android.providers.telephony folder
-*nothing*
-sent a few texts through the app
-wiped com.android.providers.telephony folder
-*can still see texts with nothing in the folder*

Does your old phone still have all the texts you want on it? If so, use SMS backup and restore from the play store. Backup on the old phone, transfer the files to the new one and restore. It seems like you're doing more work than you have to just to transfer texts.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.riteshsahu.SMSBackupRestore&hl=en

 

[dlegit]

Does your old phone still have all the texts you want on it? If so, use SMS backup and restore from the play store. Backup on the old phone, transfer the files to the new one and restore. It seems like you're doing more work than you have to just to transfer texts.

yeah i get it. it's a little much. i guess it's become more about how this thing is storing the texts if it's not in the usual place.

 

[dlegit]

well if anyone is interested i found on the device running N that the new location is /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony. don't know why it's like that for mine but maybe it'll be useful for someone else too.

 

[mrniceguy1437]

well if anyone is interested i found on the device running N that the new location is /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony. don't know why it's like that for mine but maybe it'll be useful for someone else too.

I was able to extract the 'databases' folder from this location before restoring, but I'm having trouble restoring. Any ideas to restore these .db files to show in Messages app?

I tried to just copy them back to the /data/user_de location mentioned above, but also noticed there was no 'databases' folder there (I'd received one 2FA text from Google since doing the fresh restore) but even with root access couldn't properly create the folder. I then checked the /data/data location mention by OP and noticed there was a 'databases' folder there, I was able to paste my .db files in the folder, but they're still not showing in the Messages app.

Any input is much appreciated. At the least, I have the files, can open them in Windows with text editor and have confirmed there is conversations in there, my mmssms.db file is about 3 MB.

 

[criza]

I was able to extract the 'databases' folder from this location before restoring, but I'm having trouble restoring. Any ideas to restore these .db files to show in Messages app?

I tried to just copy them back to the /data/user_de location mentioned above, but also noticed there was no 'databases' folder there (I'd received one 2FA text from Google since doing the fresh restore) but even with root access couldn't properly create the folder. I then checked the /data/data location mention by OP and noticed there was a 'databases' folder there, I was able to paste my .db files in the folder, but they're still not showing in the Messages app.

Any input is much appreciated. At the least, I have the files, can open them in Windows with text editor and have confirmed there is conversations in there, my mmssms.db file is about 3 MB.

I had the same problem, so I deleted the *.db-journal files, and after that I could start the SMS app and all messages were there!

 

[ksupreme]

Error.

 

[cyberangel22k]

Have been doing this since CM12 up to CM13. When I tried LineageOS 7.1.1 a few days ago, I restored my mmssms.db backup just like I always do. Found out that it was not located in /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/database anymore so I found this thread. The problem is, if I put my mmssms.db backup at/data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/database, my sms app crashes. Tried to delete *.db-journal files too but still my sms app crashes and the only way to make it work again is to wipe my data.

 

[Silly22]

Have been doing this since CM12 up to CM13. When I tried LineageOS 7.1.1 a few days ago, I restored my mmssms.db backup just like I always do. Found out that it was not located in /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/database anymore so I found this thread. The problem is, if I put my mmssms.db backup at/data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/database, my sms app crashes. Tried to delete *.db-journal files too but still my sms app crashes and the only way to make it work again is to wipe my data.

I found that you should delete the contents of /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases and the app_parts folder, then reboot. Then do the manual move of your attachments (into app_parts) and the .db files (into databases). Then reboot again BEFORE opening your SMS or messaging app. This addressed the messaging app being unable to load MMS for me, but I don't know if this will help your crash problem. I'm on OxygenOS 7.0.

 

[cyberangel22k]

I found that you should delete the contents of /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases and the app_parts folder, then reboot. Then do the manual move of your attachments (into app_parts) and the .db files (into databases). Then reboot again BEFORE opening your SMS or messaging app. This addressed the messaging app being unable to load MMS for me, but I don't know if this will help your crash problem. I'm on OxygenOS 7.0.

Thanks for your suggestion. I will try this later. :good:

Tried this:

-deleted contents of /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases
-rebooted. A new set of db files were generated automatically
-overwritten mmssms.db
-rebooted. Messenger app does not crash anymore but cannot load messages and cannot create new message.
-tried steps 1-3 again
-after reboot I cleared the messenger's app data but still same result.

I will convert my backup now to xml and restore it via app until there's another way of restoring it manually.

Using lineageOS BTW. Thanks.

 

[mydeardiary]

I've been able to restore SMS/MMS/APN data from Titanium Backup on LOS 14.1

I just need to copy and keep file modes and ownership of "com.android.providers.telephony" from /data/data to /data/user_de/0 folder. The built in tar command will do that just fine

# tar -C /data/data -cf - com.android.providers.telephony | tar -C /data/user_de/0 -xf -

If you have copied the folder manually, just change the ownership of com..android.providers.telephony to "radio:radio" (user=radio, group=radio). No need to do this with tar command above, since tar when run as root will keep file and folder ownership.

Now waiting for Titanium Backup to support "user_de" system folder backup and restore on Android N based ROMs.

 

[mageus]

Can anyone explicitly confirm this works copying from a <=6.0 system to Nougat?

Here's what I gather:
- Mrniceguy can't get it to work
- criza got something to work
- for cyberangel, it crashed
- silly got it to work on Oxygen
- mydeardiary got tar to work (though your tar command looks a bit funny)

My Droid Turbo's (6.0) screen died, but I can access ADB. I tried copying the mms db to a Galaxy S4 (5.0.1) without success. When I copied the mmssms.db and journal, Messages showed an empty history. I made sure the permissions were set (660, radio:radio). Copying the telephony files over caused the Phone app to constantly spam a FC dialog until I turned the phone off. Restoring the original (S4) files fixed it.

I don't want to risk my shiny new Nexus 5X unless I'm sure that just copying the files over will work.

 

[mageus]

I can confirm that copying the database from an older version to Nougat doesn't work.

- in /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases:
- backup all files
- delete mmssms.db, mmssms.db-journal
- reboot
- copy in mmssms.db, set permissions 660, radio:radio
- reboot
- run Messages
empty message list
when trying to create conversation: "Failed to create conversation, please try again later."
- restoring original files fixes messaging

I suspect there's something to the format of the mmssms.db file that is different across releases, or between phones.

 

[Serachja]

Thanks for your suggestion. I will try this later. :good:

Tried this:

-deleted contents of /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases
-rebooted. A new set of db files were generated automatically
-overwritten mmssms.db
-rebooted. Messenger app does not crash anymore but cannot load messages and cannot create new message.
-tried steps 1-3 again
-after reboot I cleared the messenger's app data but still same result.

I will convert my backup now to xml and restore it via app until there's another way of restoring it manually.

Using lineageOS BTW. Thanks.

I finally got it working... I was eagerly ready all the posts here.
Here is my solution:
After freshly installing the new LineageOS I installed Root Browser and BusyBox (obviously you need root permissions for this). Then I opened in Root Browser the location /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases. I made a backup of the files inside in a subfolder. I copied my old files into the now empty folder (adb root, adb push.....--> six Files: HbpcdLookup.db, HbpcdLookup.db-journal, mmssms.db, mmssms.db-journal, telephony.db, telephony.db-journal). Then I gave to all xyz.db files the read/write permissions for the owner and the group, and for the journals, I gave them only read/write permissions from the owner (I got an error that the permissions couldn't be applied --> ignore it, it does get applied). To all six files, I changed the Ownership from root to radio. --> rebooted --> no crashing but no messages visible --> installed the "SMS from Android 4.4" from the PlayStore--> set this SMS app do be de default one (I set the mark to not delete old messages in the settings) --> this app restored all my SMS that I had lost.
Its quite some trouble to get to the files but in the end it seems to work.

I hope you can reproduce this procedure...

 

[gaglia83]

Same problem here with latest Lineage on a rooted serranoltexx (Samsung Galaxy S4 mini LTE). I think something changed in the last update, but I don't understand whether it's Android's or Lineage's fault.

I give you more information, as it seems like a recent issue which troubles a lot of users - I found many similar threads, but no solution so far.

On my old Samsung S2 I was using the app SlightBackup (free, from F-Droid) to backup SMSs. However, copying the SlightBackup database (.xml format) on my new phone and reinstalling it there doesn't seem to work, so I decided to copy manually the mmssms.db file. Also in my case, the new directory seems to be /data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases (however, there is also a file called telephony.db which has a symbolic link in /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases )

Still, my SMSs do not show up, and moreover the "contacts" app crashes. I tried deleting all the content of the folder and then the messaging app crashes (a full reboot restored the content, however, and the functionality of both apps with it).

Interesting to notice that all the *.db and *.db-journal files in the folder do not change size even if I send/receive SMSs, so I guess they are there just for compatibility, and do not actually store the messages. The "real" database is probably somewhere else, but I have no idea where to look for.

Help would be really appreciated. I'm willing to send 0.01 BTC to the first person who finds a working solution

P.S.: yes, I have also taken care of the filesystem permissions of the .db file, which is something only mentioned in this thread amongst all those I've found, but important I think. In my case the .db file is 660 with owner radio:radio, same for the .db-journal but permissions 600.

P.P.S.: installing third-party apps to restore my SMSs is not an option in my case. I know about working apps in the Play Store but I don't want to use them.

P.P.P.S.: yes, my phone is rooted, and I am not using third-party messaging apps, just the default one.

I found that you should delete the contents of ... Then do the manual move of your attachments ... Then reboot again BEFORE opening your SMS ...

This doesn't work for me.

I finally got it working... I was eagerly ready all the posts here.
Here is my solution...

Thanks for the hint. Your solution probably works because the app "SMS from Android 4" is still using the old location/format of the database. This strengthens my idea that in the last update the situation has changed for the default messaging app (as I said, I don't want to use third-party apps in this case).

That's really frustrating... it's crazy that such a simple thing as the local SMS database creates so much trouble

 

[ognevod]

Here is new db location: /data/data/com.google.android.gms/databases/icing_mmssms.db
You can also find a lot of things in that folder

 

[gaglia83]

Here is new db location: /data/data/com.google.android.gms/databases/icing_mmssms.db
You can also find a lot of things in that folder

Hey, thanks but unfortunately that doesn't work for me: I don't have that location at all, the only com.google folder I have is com.google.zxing.client.android and that doesn'tcontain the mmssms.db

 

[Lesking72]

It's in the same place on my Galaxy S6. Does this file also contain the APN settings on your phone? I was able to edit it and enable my phone's native tethering

 

[gaglia83]

As I said, unfortunately that doesn't work for me I'm using Lineage OS 14.something (nightly). At this point I just gave up and deleted all my old SMSs, there was nothing too important anyway. But it still kinda suck. Well, never mind.