Tech tip: Save your memories before it’s too late

When grief is overwhelming, hearing a loved one’s voice and seeing their photos can be just too painful. But when a bit of time has passed, it feels like a gift.

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I want you to have that with your loved ones, too, and part of that is preserving the memories you have before there’s a glitch, your phone gets stolen or some other tech mishap.

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Life’s little moments

What I’m really talking about here are those small, everyday moments of connection. Voicemails and text messages are intimate reminders of what our loved ones sound like, talk like and what they care about. You don’t have to wait until someone is gone to preserve those.

I won’t get into all the details here, but you can and should do this with VHS tapes, too. They degrade over time, so don’t wait until they’re unwatchable.

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Saving voicemails on iPhone

Saving voicemails on Android

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Keep in mind, your steps may vary based on your phone model. But you can still follow some general steps to keep those important messages.

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Saving texts on an iPhone

On an iPhone, your iCloud account holds lots of data, including messages. They’re updated automatically so you can see them across all your devices. That means if your iPhone bites the dust, you’ll be able to access your messages on a Mac, iPad or other Apple device with your Apple ID.

Now, if you want to print your text messages, use the iExplorer app. It’s $39.99 to use on one phone and $69.98 for the family plan that covers five devices.

Saving texts on an Android

If you have an Android phone, a third-party app is your best bet to make the backup process easy. SMS Backup & Restore is a solid option.

DO THIS WITH YOUR FAMILY VIDEOS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

The app creates a local XML backup of the messages and call logs on your phone when you run it. You can do this manually or schedule recurring backups. You can then save that backup to your cloud storage.

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