[Q] grievingDad needs HELP!

[grievingDad]

My son ODed on 11.17.14. I have been looking over his phone for some time. In a moment of utter stupidity I deleted all SMS messages. Links from me, his mother, his sibling and his friends. I have been looking online for ways to recover msgs. Dr. fone appears to be one of the best but does not work on his phone. It appears it would work if the phone was rooted. I have downloaded and installed towelroot. The app says the phone is not supported. I have found and used the three Mod string modifiers. the app still says the phone is not supported. I even went to the ATT device support center and they said they could not help. Please anyone, help me recover my son's messages. Its the last words I will ever have from him.

Thank you.

 

[grievingDad]

update grievingDad

Rereading post, additional info may be needed:
Model number
SAMSUNG-SM-G900A
Android version:
4.4.2
Kernal version
3.4.0-2178781
[email protected] #1
Tue Jul 22 13:58:46 KST 2014
Build number
KOT49H.G900AUCU2ANG3

If anything else is needed let me know.

 

[grievingDad]

grievingDad needs HELP!

Another thought,
I live in Baton Rouge, La. Available at 225-278-6466
If anyone is in town, New Orleans, or vicinity, I will come to you for help.
I am desperate to recover these msgs.
thank you.

 

[silrosriv]

Download AT&T messages if it is not already installed. After you log in it will start downloading all of the logs, sms, calls, etc.

 

[dibeachdude]

@grievingDad,

I truly do not intend to be callous in this situation, but I will make a few points here and some may be helpful.

1) I don't know who you are, and since I do not know you, I cannot be certain of your motives for even trying to retrieve deleted messages. If you have truly lost someone and your motives are as simple as they appear in your firt message, my heart goes out to you and I wish you all the best in trying to retrieve your son's messages. I only say this because I would not even attempt to retrieve deleted messages for someone if they were doing it for spiteful or illegal reasons (Example: Jealous lover, disgruntled employee, etc.). There are probably more illegitimate reasons to retrieve another person's messages than legitmate ones. I am guessing that is why you will have a difficult time finding someone to help you with this directly. I am not an attorney, but even helping you to retrieve deleted messages sounds like a slippery slope.

2) You may be able to get an attorney to petition AT&T for a record of the messages. I believe that they have to keep them for a certain period of time for legal reasons. I'm not sure how accessible the messages will be. I remember trying to get a copy of one of my own messages (many years ago), and I wasn't able to get it from them. I know that messages are subpoenaed in court, but you might have to involve a judge to get them.

3) If your son used Hangouts for messaging (not the stock messaging app), you may be able to get the messages through his Google account. You might be able to ask Google for his password. I suspect that it would invole contacting Google and send them an official copy of the death certificate. I doubt that it would be easy.

4) It is possible that you could something wrong and brick the phone. In other words, you would never get anything off of it.

5) Consider the possibility that the messages may really be gone forever. Some things in the digital world offer the ability of recovering from "Oops!", but some things are meant to be deleted permanently. I am not trying to be a pessimist. All I am trying to do is counter the notion that everything is hackable and data is never really lost.

 

[grievingDad]

I don't think your being callous, just pointing out things i didn't consider.

1) It never occurred to me that that the post would be interpreted as nefarious. I know using names instead of handles is not very common, but if you wish you can look up his obit in the Baton Rouge Advocate. His name is William McCardle. My name is Douglas. I can be found at the number listed above in the same city. I'm not an attorney either, but I don't believe providing information on rooting a phone would lead to any type of prosecution. The service for all four numbers on the family plan are in my name.

2) I took the phone to the ATT device service center. I assumed if it was possible to retrieve msm from their servers they would have advised me there. But maybe not. I will contact ATT directly and/or consult with the family atty.

3) Hangouts is on the phone, but doesn't appear to have any msgs. Nothing is in Archives. The msms icon was one of the four permanent icons at the bottom, so I assume it is the stock messaging app.

4) I have copied/backup the device to Kies 3 and copied all photos to my computer. Even if the phone is bricked, it is worth the risk to get the msms back.

5) Its good you pointed out that not all data is recoverable. I was aware that even an App was able to retrieve msms, that some may be corrupted or overwritten due to reuse of the memory space.

6) Lastly, my motives are just that simple.

Thank you for the reply. Any further input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CAG-man]

The App AT&T messages will recover just about every message sent and received from the line.

I don't recall if it recovers MMS messages.

It should be on the phone already. If not you may be able to download in he play store.

I used it once when I was going to be out of a service area. Connected to WiFi and used the app. While using the app it seemed to download every message ever sent and received. Took forever and I could not stop it.

 

[grievingDad]

Success

Thanks to those who replied. Installed the att msgs app and all the texts have been downloaded.
Just wish I had followed the advise on the 3rd when it was first suggested.

 

[dibeachdude]

Thanks to those who replied. Installed the att msgs app and all the texts have been downloaded.
Just wish I had followed the advise on the 3rd when it was first suggested.

I kept meaning to go back and check this thread earlier to see how you made out. I am glad to hear that you were able to recover the messages. All the best.