Need your talk or text logs?
incog_neato's profile

Contributor

 • 

3 Messages

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 11:33 PM

text msg transcripts

is it possible to get transcripts of text messages or to see the content of mms message?

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

Expert

 • 

12.2K Messages

11 years ago


@Max69 wrote:

Number 3 would be a court order to AT&T.


nothing to get a court order on, ATT nor any carrier does not retain SMS messages not any output from any message transport

Professor

 • 

1.5K Messages

11 years ago

1. Grab the phone and look at said messages.


2. Install 3rd party software that will silently forward messages to your phone.

 

3. There actually is no 3, I just got ahead of myself.

Professor

 • 

2.1K Messages

11 years ago

Number 3 would be a court order to AT&T.

Contributor

 • 

3 Messages

11 years ago

thanks to all for your replies. this seems to line up with what i have read.

Expert

 • 

13K Messages

11 years ago

actually they are store for up to 72 hours, this is due to a 3rd party company handling the messages; and once a court order is issued they can be stored for however long it is required by the court.

Expert

 • 

12.2K Messages

11 years ago


@wilcre wrote:
actually they are store for up to 72 hours, this is due to a 3rd party company handling the messages; and once a court order is issued they can be stored for however long it is required by the court.

they store until delivered which is up to 72 hours, once delivered to the device they are purged

Teacher

 • 

8 Messages

11 years ago

its totally stupid that we can't view messages We wrote and that were sent to US and OUR personal phones. Sometimes its important for some people to review a text or mms conversation that had been erased. This service should be available to customers in our online account. Our accounts have a security password already and we can also add on a second passcode to our accounts if you feel you need the extra protection. If its a security issue, Oh pleeeeaase, get over yourself. If you have some top secret message you don't want someone to see..then DON'T send it via text!!! Duh. Also I am sure if this feature were available to customers, those people who have fears of others seeing the content of conversations had via text and MMS, that there would be an option for people to "opt out" of having this feature. AT&T could even charge for this service..making the company even more money. Court order..cmon...unless you are in fear for your life..how would a judge take you seriously when you say you just need some info from your erased message??. (and there are reasons you can't ask the sender of the missing text to just repeat what they said weeks ago).

 

People can't be this worried about the slight possibility of outside eyes seeing text conversations & hacking into AT&T accounts....when everyday they post every move they make and feeling they have on Facebook for the world to see. And you don't even need two passwords to see what someone you barely knew in highschool had for lunch.

ACE - Expert

 • 

64.7K Messages

11 years ago


@starfinn wrote:

its totally stupid that we can't view messages We wrote and that were sent to US and OUR personal phones. Sometimes its important for some people to review a text or mms conversation that had been erased. This service should be available to customers in our online account. Our accounts have a security password already and we can also add on a second passcode to our accounts if you feel you need the extra protection. If its a security issue, Oh pleeeeaase, get over yourself. If you have some top secret message you don't want someone to see..then DON'T send it via text!!! Duh. Also I am sure if this feature were available to customers, those people who have fears of others seeing the content of conversations had via text and MMS, that there would be an option for people to "opt out" of having this feature. AT&T could even charge for this service..making the company even more money. Court order..cmon...unless you are in fear for your life..how would a judge take you seriously when you say you just need some info from your erased message??. (and there are reasons you can't ask the sender of the missing text to just repeat what they said weeks ago).

 

People can't be this worried about the slight possibility of outside eyes seeing text conversations & hacking into AT&T accounts....when everyday they post every move they make and feeling they have on Facebook for the world to see. And you don't even need two passwords to see what someone you barely knew in highschool had for lunch.


The reason that your text converstion history is not available is because AT&T does not retain text message content. The same is true for Sprint and T-Mobile. As noted in the thread, it may be retained up to 72 hours or until delivered but once it's delivered, it's purged. Verizon is the only major carrier that retains text content for any amount of time and that's just 3-5 days according to this Wired article from a couple years back: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/09/cellular-customer-data/.

 

SMS by it's nature is not secure, so you are correct when you say anyone worried about privacy should not use text messaging. Similarly, if you need a conversation history, you should use a medium that provides such a history rather than texting (like e-mail) or get a smartphone that will retain that text history for you. I'm on my third iphone and I still have the text history from my first iphone.

 

 

 

Contributor

 • 

3 Messages

10 years ago

I'm happy that they don't save texts. I have absolutely no reason to save my text messages. I usually delete them daily.

Next you will want to save all your verbal conversations too?Smiley Tongue

Contributor

 • 

1 Message

8 years ago

What is the name of a 3rd party app to restore or backup messages after being deleted
Not finding what you're looking for?
New to AT&T Community?
New to the AT&T Community? Start by visiting the Community How-To.
New to the AT&T Community?
Visit the Community How-To.