Tech tip: Save your memories before it’s too late

When grief is overwhelming, hearing a loved one’s voice and seeing their photos can be just too painful. But when a bit of time has passed, it feels like a gift.

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I want you to have that with your loved ones, too, and part of that is preserving the memories you have before there’s a glitch, your phone gets stolen or some other tech mishap.

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Life’s little moments

What I’m really talking about here are those small, everyday moments of connection. Voicemails and text messages are intimate reminders of what our loved ones sound like, talk like and what they care about. You don’t have to wait until someone is gone to preserve those.

I won’t get into all the details here, but you can and should do this with VHS tapes, too. They degrade over time, so don’t wait until they’re unwatchable.

Dr. Tim McGrew advises web users to change their privacy settings on their devices to protect from data mining. (Photo by Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez/picture alliance via Getty Images)

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Saving voicemails on iPhone

• Go to the Phone app and tap Voicemail in the bottom right.
• Tap on the voicemail you want to save, then tap the share button. It looks like a box with an arrow pointing out of it.
• You can now share this voicemail via AirDrop, Messages, Mail, Messenger or WhatsApp, depending on what you have installed.
• To save the voicemail on your phone, select Add to New Quick Note or Save to Files. You can access the saved message again in either app and play it back at your leisure. Both apps automatically back up the file to iCloud if enabled.
• To save the voicemail to your computer, select AirDrop, then tap on your computer’s name. Be sure both devices are connected to the same network. On your computer, accept the AirDrop and save the message wherever you want.

Saving voicemails on Android

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Keep in mind, your steps may vary based on your phone model. But you can still follow some general steps to keep those important messages.

• Open your Voicemail app or go to the Voicemail section in your Phone app.
• Tap (or tap and hold) the message you want to save.
• In the menu that appears, look for options like Save, Export or Archive.
• Select the storage location in your phone where you’d like to save your message, then tap OK or Save.

Have an old phone lying around? After you get everything you want off it, you need to wipe it the right way. Here’s how.

Saving texts on an iPhone

On an iPhone, your iCloud account holds lots of data, including messages. They’re updated automatically so you can see them across all your devices. That means if your iPhone bites the dust, you’ll be able to access your messages on a Mac, iPad or other Apple device with your Apple ID.

• To ensure your text messages are being saved, open Settings on your iPhone and tap your name.
• Tap iCloud and toggle on Messages.

Now, if you want to print your text messages, use the iExplorer app. It’s $39.99 to use on one phone and $69.98 for the family plan that covers five devices.

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  A man scrolling on his Android phone  (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)

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  A woman scrolling on social media on her phone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)

Saving texts on an Android

If you have an Android phone, a third-party app is your best bet to make the backup process easy. SMS Backup & Restore is a solid option.

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The app creates a local XML backup of the messages and call logs on your phone when you run it. You can do this manually or schedule recurring backups. You can then save that backup to your cloud storage.

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