How to access texts on rooted Android device from terminal

Question

How do I access text messages on my rooted device using the command line?


I specifically want to extract a text transcript, without using any cloud services and thereby exposing sensitive or personal info.


— young_souvlaki | Sources

Answer

Requirements:



  1. Linux terminal (may work on other systems; untested).

  2. adb installed.

  3. "USB Debugging" enabled.

  4. Rooted Android device (may work on unrooted; untested).


Sequence:



  1. Plug in device.

  2. Put device in "File Transfer" mode.

  3. Start session with root access: adb root.

  4. Accept prompt on device to allow USB debugging.

  5. Start interactive shell at root dir (/): adb shell.

  6. Locate database file using ls, find, and whatever tools you see fit. Mine was: /data/data/com.android.messaging/databases/bugle_db.

  7. Exit the shell with exit or Ctrl-d.

  8. Pull the file onto your local machine: adb pull <file> ~/texts.db.

  9. Run this script to extract messages: python3 extract_convo_from_textdb.py ~/texts.db "<convo-name>".


— young_souvlaki | Sources

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