SMS2Mail is an application that allows you to send your text messages to an email account. The application opens to the main menu. The first option on the main menu is Select Phone Number. This option allows you to choose the texts from certain phone numbers…there is also a Select All option which would be basically all your text messages. From here you can select the dates from which you would like the text messages. Just tap on the From option, select a date from the calendar and then tap on Select Date. The same goes for the To option. So, you could display all text messages from September 1st to today.

The Advanced Search option allows you to search your text messages for keywords; choose between all messages, received or sent; allows you to order your text messages either descending or ascending and allows you to choose the number of text messages it finds (unlimited, top 10 or top 50). All of the options on the main menu act as a filter so, if you want all your text messages from Sept. 1st to today that have the word “church” in them…then you would search for that key word. Or, you could choose a specific phone number and only the texts from last week from that phone number and only the text messages you received from that number last week. Basically, you can be as broad or as specific as you would like when choosing the text messages.

Once you have everything filled out, you can select Show Messages option. This will bring up all the text messages that fit the options you chose. From here, you can select all the messages using the Select All option or you can select individual messages by tapping on them. Once you have selected the messages you would like to email…tap the email icon in the upper right corner.

Now, you will need to enter the email address in which you would like to send the text messages. You can then choose to send the texts as a .csv (Excel) file or as a Plain Text file. The .csv file will show up as an attachment in the email and the plain text file will just put the plain text right into the body of the email (see screenshots below). You can also choose to change the subject of the email, the body of the email and/or the title of the file. Next you will need to set up your SMTP Server Settings.

The SMTP Server Setting automatically assume you are using a gmail account. If so, you do not have to change the information in the Address option. However, if you are using a different email company you will need to change the Address info. Below are a few options.

Yahoo – smtp.mail.yahoo.com
AOL – smtp.aol.com
Netscape – smtp.isp.netscape.com

Or, check out THIS website which lists a ton of SMTP settings. Once you have the SMTP info entered, you can then put in your login, password and email address. After everything has been entered, tap Send Mail. This will bring you back to the previous page where you can then select the Send button in the upper right corner. Once it is finished sending, you will get a pop-up saying that the email was sent successfully. (You will only have to enter your SMTP Server Settings the first time…it will keep them after that.)

I honestly did not have any problems with this application. It sent both the .cvs and plain text files quickly. I also thought that the plain text showed up very nicely in the email (see screenshot below). Sometimes plain text files can look very disorganized but, this one is nice. Overall, the application does what it says it is going to do!

Screenshots:

Many of you probably remember TimeCapsule, an application that allows you to back up your iPhone, from firmware 1.1.4 and below. Well, it is now available for firmware 2.0+ however it has a new name. It is now called Chronus. The icon is the same and the application itself looks and functions much the same as before. You are able to back-up Stock, Cydia and App Store applications (Documents folder). The application list is a little limited at the moment and the ability to backup your Contacts is missing. But, the developer is working on both of these things and we should see some good updates in the future. The app reminds me a lot of the first releases of TimeCapsule but I know we will see more features soon.


Like TimeCapsule, you can use Chronus for free but you are limited to one back-up per application and as more features are added to the application, the free version will most likely not include all the features (as it was with TimeCapsule). If you had bought a license for TimeCapsule, your same license key will work with Chronus. If you would like to purchase the full Chronus app to get all the features and multiple back-ups, you can purchase the app for $7.99. Below are a few screenshots of Chronus.

AptBackup is an application in Cydia that makes restoring 1000% less painful. It is in the BigBoss source and is a 43 kB download. Here is the text from the app:

‘This app will backup your Cydia installed app list. This does not back up your actual apps or apps settings. But it is close. It will make a list of everything you installed from Cydia and back that up. When you restore, it will reinstall all the packages in one step. The list is stored with other settings files and backed up with iTunes. After you restore your iPhone and restore your backup in iTunes, run the restore function here, and it should find and restore your apps. -BigBoss & Chris Featherstone-’

It works purely effectively with 2.1, just remember to MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR IPHONE IN ITUNES BEFORE you upgrade, then restore from that backup, install the app again, and click “Restore”. It takes a while (depending on how many apps/themes you had installed). It installed everything I had installed before, just didn’t save the settings of some stuff (Winterboard Order And Checked List).

This is really something that I need, since I always test unstable apps that crash my iPhone (it pays to be a tester!). This is now a must-have app for me!

Make sure you read all the info below before proceeding!

I found a way (using the strings command in the terminal) to disable the backup function. This means that YOUR PHONE IS NOT GOING TO GET BACKED UP. Let me repeat that. If you do what I list below, YOUR PHONE WILL NOT GET BACKED UP.

This command will change a hidden setting in the iTunes preferences that will force it to skip the backup process.

1. – Quit iTunes.
2. – Open Terminal.app
3. – Copy and paste this in, then hit return:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

4. – Open iTunes
5. – Plug in your iPhone (2.0 or 3G) and sync.

It will take a few seconds, assuming you don’t have a ton of music or podcasts.

Changing the ‘true’ in step 3 to ‘false’ will re-enable the backup feature.

Change Log for version 0.42b1:
Call Favorites:
    • fixed: non-stop loop when backing up call favourites
    • Show number of call favorites in backup
Change in delete functions:
    • delete individual backup available for all users (I forgot to add this function)
    • added delete all backups function (the clear button at the bottom navigation bar)
    • prompt user to enter a certain number before ‘delete all backups’ proceed to prevent accidental deletion
    • the trash-can button ‘clear’ in the bottom navigation bar now delete all backups instead of deleting temporary files
    • temporary files deleted automatically at startup

0.40b1 Change Log:
    • The backup location has changed from ~/Library/TimeCapsule to ~/Library/Preferences/TimeCapsule.
    • Completely rewritten SMS Repository
    • Changed all popup to slideup (more stable, the popup causes the program to crash sometimes)
    • Completely rewritten some file management functions. You will notice that deleting backup is almost instantaneous now. With this update, I can safely add support to backup Mail. Previously, Mail backups cannot be deleted properly, so I did not add Mail support until now
    • In the previous version, where the localization function was changed, TimeCapsule only supports English. Now the follow languages are added again:
      - French
      - German
      - Italian
      - Simplified Chinese
      - Traditional Chinese
    • Added support for :
      - IntelliScreen
      - iPhoneVideoRecorder
      - NetServices
      - Mail

This is a lot of change for an application. I restored my iPhone just before version 0.40b1 was released or I could have tried the new system to restore all my files on my freshly restored/jailbroke iPhone. I will have to give it a shot next time! Other than all the behind the scenes changes, the application looks the same as the previous versions. You can get TimeCapsule through the databinge source.