For several years now, I and a lot of other Android users have used the free, open source app SMS Backup+ to backup call logs and text messages. What made SMS Backup+ such a great app is that not only did it do traditional backups, but it also allowed users to push the call log to Google Calendar and send every SMS to a GMail account, with custom tagging.
But SMS Backup+ is about to become a casualty of Google’s efforts to better protect its users’ privacy–efforts which often seem to also be aimed at further closing what was once a much more open ecosystem than its competitors (and one of the things that attracted many users to Android rather than iOS).
Google has been burned repeatedly by Android malware that is able to access SMS and call logs, and use that to spy on users or exploit that ability to defraud users.
In an effort to better protect users, Google decided to limit which apps can access SMS and Call Log permissions.
Google Play restricts the use of high risk or sensitive permissions, including the SMS or Call Log permission groups.
If your app does not require access to Call Log or SMS permissions, you must remove these permissions from your app’s manifest. Details on policy compliant alternative implementation are also detailed below.
If you believe your app meets the policy requirements for acceptable use or is eligible for an exception, you should declare any Call Log or SMS permissions directly through the Play Console.
Apps that fail to meet policy requirements or submit a Declaration Form may be removed from Google Play.
. . .
For apps requesting access to the SMS or Call Log permissions, the intended and permitted uses include default SMS handling, default phone handling, or Assistant handling capability.
Apps must be actively registered as the default SMS, Phone, or Assistant handler before prompting users to accept any of the above permissions and must immediately stop the use of the permission when they no longer are the default handler.
Notice that backing up SMS or Call Logs, much less pushing SMS message into something like GMail is not on the list of “intended and permitted uses.” I assume Google wants users who wish to maintain backups up SMS messages to use its own Android backup services rather than rely on third party tools. That’s one less security headache for Google, presumably.
The developer of SMS Backup+, Jan Berkel, says he did apply for an exception to the new policy, but was denied,
Hello everyone. I’m sorry about this situation, SMS Backup+ will no longer have access to Gmail, mainly because it’s not an email reading app.
I applied for an exception but it was declined, as expected. Vanilla IMAP might work, but for how long I wonder. And it’s very tricky to set up for a casual user. Unfortunately the Android platform is getting more and more closed.
I’m not sure what to do at this point, either remove the app from the store or release a new version which removes the automatic account setup, since that is broken / will be broken soon.
There are still ways to get backups of SMS and Call Logs and push them to Google Calendar or Gmail, but these will require a lot more technical savvy and effort on the part of users. And even those workarounds may soon be on the Google chopping block.
And with that, a highly useful app that likely had hundreds of thousands of users will disappear and, with it, the functionality that those users found helpful.