How to import Nokia SMS messages into Android

Submitted by Hans Salvisberg on Fri, 2013-12-27 02:10

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The process is not straight-forward, but it's possible using the Anything to SMS (CSV, XML, SQL) Android App. The problem is that you tend to get the

Failed java.lang.Exception: No SMS imported.

message.

To successfully import into a Samsung Galaxy S4, I used the following procedure:

  1. Use Nokia Suite to export the messages into a .csv file. You will get (at least on Windows) a UTF-8 file without BOM and with Windows-style line endings (CR/LF).
  2. Install the Anything to SMS (CSV, XML, SQL) and OI File Manager apps from the Google Play Store.
  3. Check the patterns that Athg2Sms is expecting: they start with [sms;deliver] and [sms;submit] (without the brackets).
  4. We'll need to massage the .csv file, which may be a pain to edit, depending on your tools, because the message bodies may contain newlines, which typically end records in .csv file. Tools that recognize the .csv format will probably cause trouble. If that's your case, you can replace those newlines with a character that does not occur in your message bodies, e.g. the vertical bar [|].
  5. Depending on your regional setttings, the records in the .csv file may use a different delimiter — mine used the comma instead of the semicolon. You need to make sure that your file has semicolons.
  6. My records started with ["sms","READ,RECEIVED"] and ["sms","SENT,READ"] (or just ["sms","SENT"]) (without the brackets). Obviously, this needs to be fixed go conform to Athg2Sms' expectations.
  7. I also looked for double double quotes [""] in the message body (only!) and replaced them with single single quotes ['], but maybe this is not necessary.
  8. If you replaced newlines in the bodies with vertical bars you may want to undo this.
  9. Save the file as UTF-8 without BOM and with Unix-style line endings (LF only).
  10. Copy the file to the phone, e.g. to the Downloads directory.
  11. Run it through Athg2Sms.

Good luck!