Why is the scheduled backup not making any backups for me?

When Scheduled Backups are enabled, the app displays a notification after each successful backup with information about how many messages / call logs were backed up and failed.

If you are not getting this notification, then the scheduled backups are not working. Here are some potential ways to fix this problem:

Samsung Phones

For phones running Android 12 and above

  • Open the App Info screen for SMS Backup & Restore (Long press on the app icon and then tap on the info icon, or select the app from Phone Settings > Apps)
  • Tap on Battery
  • Select Unrestricted
     

For phones running Android 10 and 11

    • Open Phone Settings > Device Care > Battery > App power management > Apps that won’t be put to sleep
    • Tap on Add apps
    • Scroll down and select SMS Backup & Restore

For phones running Android 9 or older, check if you have any power saving restrictions on the app being applied by the phone. To check, open the Battery screen from Phone Settings and see if it shows anything like the screenshot attached. If so, tap on the Details button at the bottom and then look for SMS Backup & Restore in the list and disable power saving for it.

Huawei Phones

Change settings as follows: Settings> Apps> SMS Backup & Restore > Battery> Keep running after screen off.

       

 

OnePlus Phones

For phones running Android 13 and above

  • Long Press on the app icon and select Info
  • Select Battery usage
  • Turn on “Allow background activity” and Allow auto-launch
     

For phones running Android 12

  • Open Phone Settings > Battery > Advanced Settings > Optimized battery use.
  • Select SMS Backup & Restore
  • Select “Don’t optimize”

For older phones

  • Open Phone Settings > Battery > Battery Optimisation.
  • Tap on 3 dots on top right corner.
  • Tap on Advanced optimization, keep it off.
  • Phone Settings > Advanced > Recent app management > Select “Normal clear”
       

 

TCL Phones

  • Open Phone Settings > Smart Manager
  • Tap on Auto-start
  • Disable “All automatically manage”
  • Enable Auto start for SMS Backup & Restore

 

Other Phones / General issues

  • This app can be installed on the SD Card on phones which support it. If the app is installed on the SD Card, then it is not able to start the scheduler when the phone reboots. If you want to use Scheduled backups, please do not install the app on the SD card.
  • On older versions of Android, whenever an app is updated, Android removes all its scheduled events and the schedules can only be set again by the app when it is opened. Each time you update the app, make sure you open it at least once after the update to enable the schedule.
  • Some other “Task Manager” or “Task Killer” app is killing this app, thus making the backup impossible. This is especially a problem if the other app is set to “Auto Cancel” or “Auto Kill” every hour or so. If this is the case, make sure “SMS Backup & Restore” is excluded from the apps which are auto killed.