Frequently Asked Questions

Click on the questions below to see the answer. Don't see your question below? Please contact us.

TextMessage FAQ


Getting Started

• Help! I just paid for the software, where is my license code?
After purchasing Decipher TextMessage your unique license code will be immediately displayed on the web page containing the link to download the software. You will also receive an email containing your license code. Please check your junk mail folder for this correspondence if the email does not appear in your inbox.
• I paid for the software but I'm having problems getting started.
We're happy to help. If you don't see your question answered here on our FAQ, simply fill out the form on our support page and we will get back to you asap. We have a great support team and we like to treat our customers the same way that we like to be treated. Yes, we will really respond. What a concept! Please read the FAQ though. Please!
• My computer is telling me that the software is not safe to install!
This prompt is usually presented to Windows users. Don't panic! It is normal for your web browser to warn you that you are installing software from the internet. Our software does not contain any viruses. You should accept the installation and then you'll be up and running right away.
• I'm trying to download the software directly to my iPhone instead of to my computer!
The software is a desktop application that runs on your computer. Downloading the program to your iPhone will not work. You need to download the software to your computer and run it on your machine. The software reads from the iTunes backup files on your computer. If you have never backed up your iPhone via iTunes, you will need to do this first.

Basics

• Why are my most recent text messages not showing up?
Decipher TextMessage reads your SMS history from the iTunes backup, not the phone itself. To ensure the most up-to-date SMS data, back up your iPhone in iTunes.

Connect your phone to your Mac using the USB cable provided and open iTunes. Right click (or control + click) on your iPhone under "Devices" and click on "Back Up".

• I installed Decipher TextMessage however I can't access any of my sms messages.
The first thing is to make sure your iPhone is backed up. If you have never made a backup, you will need to backup your iPhone via iTunes on your computer. By design, Decipher TextMessage does not access your sms conversations directly from your iPhone. It reads them from the backup files on your computer.
• How do I make a backup? (Note: it's not just syncing!)
To make a backup, connect your phone to your Mac using the USB cable provided and open iTunes. Right click (or control + click) on your iPhone under "Devices" and click on "Back Up".

• Do I first need to backup my iPhone before running the program?
If you have never backed up your iPhone before, then you will need to first make a backup of your device in order for Decipher TextMessage to access your sms conversations. If you already backed up your iPhone, we recommend first running Decipher TextMessage on any existing backups prior to making a new fresh backup. If you do not see the sms conversations that you are looking for, then you most likely need to make a new backup so that Decipher TextMessage can access the most recent conversations.
• When I create new iPhone backup and run Decipher TextMessage, what happens to my previous conversations?
Decipher TextMessage keeps it's own copy of the messages that it has read from your backup files, appending messages to that history as new ones are read in. So, as you make new backups with new messages, your message history will grow.
• When I launch Decipher TextMessage, it says that my iTunes back up is encrypted? How do I disable this feature?
Encryption needs to be turned off in iTunes for Decipher TextMessage to function. To disable the encryption in iTunes here is what you should do:  With the iPhone plugged in, select the iPhone under "Devices" on the left. Then, on the right side of the screen, under "Options", the very last option should be "Encrypt iPhone Backups"; that should be unchecked. Once you uncheck that option, iTunes should start making a new unencrypted backup. If it doesn't, you can force it to by right-clicking on the phone under Devices and selecting "Back Up". Once you've read in the backup, if you'd like to turn encryption back on, you can recheck the box, and iTunes will overwrite the backup again with an encrypted version.
• I am only able to recover messages within the last year. Are previous sms messages available?
Double check is to make sure that you actually have messages older than a year still on your device. When you open up a specific sms conversation thread on your iPhone, if you scroll to the top of that conversation you should see a "Load Earlier Messages" option. Hit this and it should load older messages if you have them. See how far back they go. Decipher TextMessage should be reading all the messages currently on your iPhone including these ones. So, just double check to make sure the messages you are looking for are actually still on your device.
• Is it possibe to use Decipher TextMessage to put sms messages back on to my iPhone?
Currently there is no way to put text messages back on to an iPhone. The only way is to restore from backup which will restore your iPhone and all its data to the settings of your most recent backup.
• Does Decipher TextMessage work with iOS5 and iMessages?
Yes, the current version of Decipher TextMessage supports iOS5 and iMessages.
• I have an older version of Decipher TextMessage. Do I get a free upgrade?
The answer is it depends on when you purchased it. Please contact us and we will look up your purchase history. Most purchases do include future updates. With very major version changes (we've only had one so far in our last year and a half of Decipher TextMessage) that include a large change in functionality, we will do a paid update to software similar to most normal software. However, we push out fairly frequent updates with fixes and improvements to the current functionality automatically and free of charge.
 
 

Deleted Messages

• Will Decipher TextMessage enable me to recover sms messages that I've deleted from my iPhone?
The answer is, unfortunately, "it depends". When you delete a text message on your iPhone, the message is just marked as "deleted"; at some point in the future, the spaces for those deleted messages are reused. If the space has not been reused yet, the message can be recovered.
• How do I know if the text messages I've deleted will be recognized by Decipher TextMessage?
The free-trial version of Decipher TextMessage will show you a summary of the messages that are recoverable, displaying the contact and date of the messages. However, the trial will not show you the message contents. You can use the trial to see if messages from the conversation you are interested in would be recoverable. We recommend downloading the free trial prior to purchasing the software if specific-message recovery is your primary concern.
• When I select "recover" the deleted text message I was hoping to find is not there. Is there anything else I can do?
Thankfully, yes! (Although it requires a bit more work.) Sometimes, the space for the text message has been partially reused, but there are still fragments of the message in your backup. In this case, there isn't enough data for Decipher TextMessage to display the information coherently, but it may be enough for you to get the information you need. We have written up an article which shows you how to look at the text message backup directly and search for the message fragments to see if it's still around.
• Will you refund my $$ money if Decipher TextMessage is not able to recover the deleted text message that I was hoping to read?
We cannot offer a refund if the deleted message can not be recovered, but we recommend downloading the free trial if specific-message recovery is your primary concern so that you can see if the message is recoverable prior to purchasing the software.
• When trying to recover deleted sms messages, should I first make a new backup of my iPhone or should I initially try running Decipher TextMessage on any existing backups that might already be present?
If you first run Decipher TextMessage on any existing backups and you do not find the deleted text messages that you are searching, then we suggest making a new backup of your iPhone and trying running the program again, using the Recover button to search the backup for deleted messages that may still be present.
• Why do you encourage users to first download and try out the free trial version to see if deleted messages are recoverable?
Like you, we don't want to pay for software that we don't need. The majority of people use Decipher TextMessage to save and access their sms conversions on their computer. For individuals simply hoping to recover messages that were deleted from their iPhone, we suggest downloading the free trial to see if your deleted messages are accessible! The free trial will show you if the messages are present and recoverable without you having to pay for the software.
• Decipher TextMessage recovered a text message that was deleted several months ago (yay!) but not one that was deleted more recently (boo!) Why is that?
As we mentioned previously, when you delete a text message on your iPhone, the message is just marked as "deleted"; at some point in the future, the spaces for those deleted messages are reused. If the space has not been reused yet, the message can be recovered. It all depends on when the space for that specific deleted sms message was reused!

Misc

• I don't see the name of the person who texted me, just a phone number. Why?
Decipher TextMessage uses the iPhone's Contacts App information to match phone numbers to people and businesses. Be sure that the contact information for the person is added to your iPhone's Contacts, back up your phone, and run Decipher TextMessage again. The contact information will be imported on each launch of Decipher TextMessage.
• When I start the program it says that invalid backup data is found and that I have to re-sync my iphone. What should I do?

Sometimes there are very old iPhone backups in the backups folder, and they'll trigger that message in the software. If that's the case, if you press ok on that warning dialog, you should still see your data in the program, since the software will read all of the backups and just skip over invalid ones.

If the data is not there, the next thing to try is to double-check that the iPhone backups are not being encrypted by iTunes. With the iPhone plugged in, select the iPhone under "Devices" on the left. Then, on the right side of the screen, under "Options", the very last option should be "Encrypt iPhone Backups"; that should be unchecked.

A handful of times, we've seen a very weird issue where the iPhone backups are just not totally finished by iTunes and the "Backup Success" marker in the backup isn't checked. So, we should check if that is the case for you:

You can find your backup folders in Finder under Home -> Library -> Application Support -> MobileSync -> Backup. Most of the time, people only have one backup in that folder, but you may have several. Inside of each folder, there is a file called "Status.plist", double-click on it to open it. In there, there should be a key named "Backup Success"; if that value is not checked, check it, save, and then try again.

• I recieve the message "No compatible version of Java 1.6+ is available" when launching the software.
If you are running Leopard (OSX 1.5.X), it's likely that you may need to update to the most recent version of Java (1.6). The update may be available from your regular system updates (Apple Menu -> Software Update...), or you can find it here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1359

If you click on the "Open Java Preferences" button that appears with the error message, you can see a listing of what versions of Java are installed on your system, and ensure that "Java SE 6" is checked and the first option in the listing.

• After launching Decipher TextMessage, I get a small error window that says "Could not find JRE". What is that?
We apologize for the inconvenience; Decipher TextMessage is built with Java, and the software should automatically make sure that you have a compatible version of the Java Runtime Environment when you first run it. Very rarely, we've seen this automated process have some kinks. The easiest thing to do is to manually install a compatible Java Runtime Environment, which you can find here: www.java.com/getjava/index.jsp.
• Why do some of my image previews in Decipher TextMessage show up as red x boxes?
If this happens, you most likely do not have the most recent version of Internet Explorer as your browser. Although the FAQ from Microsoft mentions FrontPage, the information is also a solution to your problem with the image previews. You can also follow the information on the page to look for a newer version of IE for your system. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307239
• How can I write a review for Decipher TextMessage?
We'd love to hear your thoughts about Decipher TextMessage. The best way to review our products is at Amazon. Click here: http://amzn.to/p8bswu. The review section is at the bottom of each page.

 

VoiceMail FAQ

• Why are my most recent voicemails not showing up?
Decipher VoiceMail reads your voicemails from the iTunes backup, not the phone itself. To ensure the most up-to-date voicemail data, back up your iPhone in iTunes.

Connect your phone to your Mac using the USB cable provided and open iTunes. Right click on your iPhone under "Devices" and click on "Back Up".

• If I delete a voicemail from Decipher VoiceMail, does it also delete that voicemail on my iPhone?
No, when you delete a voicemail, the voicemail is still retained on your iPhone.
• I don't see the name of the person who left a voicemail, just a phone number. Why?
Decipher VoiceMail uses the iPhone's Contacts App information to match phone numbers to people and businesses. Be sure that the contact information for the person is added to your iPhone's Contacts, back up your phone, and run Decipher VoiceMail again. The contact information will be imported on each launch of Decipher VoiceMail.
• When I save a voice mail, in what format is it saved?
The VM are saved in AMR format, just as they are on your iPhone. AMR files are compatible with QuickTime Player, which is why the Windows Decipher VoiceMail installation also allows you to install QuickTime Player. Within QuickTime Player, you can Save As the AMR file to a few different formats, such as m4v (a variant of mpeg-4) which iTunes can import. To save as an m4v in QuickTime Player, select iPhone (without the word cellular) from the list of file types.
• When I run Decipher VoiceMail, I just get the message "The application Decipher VoiceMail quit unexpectedly." What happened?
The good news is that you likely have a swanky 64-bit G5 and we're a little jealous of you.

The bad news is that there was an issue with the 64-bit support for the most recent update of QuickTime (which Decipher VoiceMail uses to play the messages). We verified that other people experience this same problem with other software, due to missing 64-bit support in QuickTime 7.6.6. Here's a thread just in case you're interested:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11310429

If you have your Leopard/Snow Leopard disk, the easiest thing to do would be to use Pacifist (http://www.charlessoft.com/) to open the disk and just install the older version of QuickTime. Pacifist is a tool that enables you to install just one component off of the OSX disk, rather than have to reinstall the whole OS for one piece.

If you don't have the disk, or this doesn't seem to be working, send us a note through our contact page.

• I don't see any voicemails... help!
If you've already made sure that you have a backup of your iPhone, the likely culprit hiding all of your voicemails is an encrypted backup. Unfortunately, Decipher VoiceMail cannot unencrypt your backup (and wouldn't you be a little worried if we could?!). The best solution is to temporarily turn off encryption in iTunes to create an unencrypted backup, and then turn the encryption back on if you would like to keep it on.

You can enable/disable encryption in iTunes towards the bottom of the Summary page for your iPhone. Click on your iPhone under "Devices" on the left-hand side of the iTunes window, and then you should see "Encrypt iPhone Backup" under "Options".