How to Save Pictures and Attachments from Text Messages on Android
85I get asked this question quite a bit and I thought it was time to make a quick tutorial on how to save pictures that your friends send to you via Text Message (MMS). There are several ways to save a picture or attachment that friends send you and I’ll describe couple of them below. Unfortunately, not every phone is exactly the same and therefore I’m also going to suggest an app that can easily save pictures and attachments that you receive via text message. The app is nice because it will work on any device!
Method one:
1) Go into your “Messages” app where you get your text messages and select the message that contains the image you want to save. Now “Long Press” on the message with the picture… not the message thread and not on the picture itself. A Message options menu will appear, the second option is “Save picture.” That’s it! If this method does not work for you, then check out the next one.
Method two:
1) Go to the Android Market and search for the app “Save MMS” by Andrew Schwimmer. Install this app and then go to your App Drawer and run the app. This tool will display all the Images and Attachments you have received via Text Message. Simply click on the one that you want to save and it will allow you to give it a file name before it saves it to your SD Card under the folder “SavedMMS”. You will also be able to view the picture in your Gallery app. [Market Link]
I hope this tutorial has been helpful for you. Please let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment below!
John A
I'm a huge Android fan and also the founder of the DroidLessons website. I started obsessing about the Android platform as soon as I got my HTC EVO phone in mid-2010. Ever since then, I have been obsessed with learning all that I can about the Android OS and sharing that knowledge with my friends and family.
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Thank you so much. The tutorial was very helpful.
anybody can answer,whats the long press thing? i have an lg spectrum
I have a LG Optimus running Android 2.0 on a Telus network. I have tried both methods you advised, but nothing is working.
When I try #1: the option menu doesn’t offer any picture/save option. When I try #2: the “saved mms” file is empty.
Do you have any other suggestions?
To Dee: When you long press, it won’t say “picture/save.” it will pop up with options: Lock Message, Copy attached to SD card, Call (phone number of text sender), Forward, etc. You want to select the “Copy attached to SD card” option. Then it will show up in your Gallery under downloaded photos. Hope it helps!
I have the same problem as Dee (I run the same pgone on the same network), and J, the option to copy to sd card isn’t there… suggestions?
Mine gave the same error until I unplugged the USB cable from the phone. You have to save the pic first and then plug in the USB cable from the computer. You can’t access the SD card from the phone if it is already mounted to the PC. Mine is saving the pic under /SD/SavedMMS/ . I used ES Image Browser app to access the SD card files.
I think i figured it out. Long press picture. Select ATTACHED ITEMS. ..u will see a box with a checkmark and SAVE / DISCARD. Touch on thcheckmark a green check appears. At this point u can select SAVE and yr picture is now in saved into GALLERY
thank you this worked for me
I have the same problem as Dee. There is simply no option to save, and when I tried method #2, it did not work either. I also have an Optimus One.
thank you #1 worked for me….
ok i want to save a picture to a file, but i dont want it in my gallery. just the file. how do i do that?
WOW!
Thank you so much. Worked for me too!!
Your instructions worked for me to save the picture to the SD card but now I would like to know how to save it to my computer. Can you help?
Sure, there are MANY ways to copy the image to your computer once the image is saved to your SD card. One way is by going to your “Gallery” app and then clicking on the image and pressing the “Menu” button. It should give you an option to “Share” it. You should be able to then email it to yourself.
@John I think you should put up a tutorial on SugarSync and DropBox for Android. These apps would make it easier to send photos and other data to PC/Mac. I am currently using both and they are very handy, and they also are able to let you sync content between multiple devices as well.
Great idea, Kris. I’ll make a tutorial for how to transfer files using Dropbox in the next week. Thanks!
I have a samsung prevail phome and my friend sent me a text with an audio attachment although I tried saving it but all I get were the options on #1 n when I go to my sd card the file is not there n if I add to scheduled task I can’t find it. Please help!!!
I have the same problem it does not have the option to “SAVE TO SD” .. I have a Samsung Dart…. can anyone help me on what to do now?
The info was great. How would I save a picture i received as an email attachment on my android?
It varies depending on your model phone but you should be able to “LONG PRESS” on the picture to see some extra options (like saving) or you can try pressing the MENU button. One of those should give you the option to Share or Save Picture. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much! The first option worked for me. On my phone, it said save text or attachment to sd, which was what I was looking for. Thanks again!
2nd option worked! Thanks!
i dnt see it in my gallery
thanks very very much….
No problem. Thank you for visiting our site!
Method # 3……Droid3 – do like method 1 above but actually on the picture.
Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the tip!
I was stumped until I got your tip about pressing the picture on the Droid3. Thanks !
Thanks for the tutorial, it helped me in a matter of seconds, which I needed much help with this new phone. Thanks again!!
No problem! Thanks for visiting the website and I hope you find the other lessons helpful as well!
John, i have the incredible 2. I can save the picture as you instructed above, but where does it go? It is not in my gallery. How do I access it? Also, when I select any picture in my gallery, and press Menu, it only gives me video options. I no longer have the Share or Save Picture anymore. Help please. Thanks very much
Dan, they should be in the Gallery under “All Photos” or perhaps “All downloads”. Do you see those options?
John, brain cramp again. how do i transfer “All photos” from the Gallery on my phone to my computer?? Thanks very much
JOhn, never mind. I figured it out!
Ive done the same thing as Dan and it saved but i still cant go to my gallery and find any pictures or anything…Idk why its not working for me..?
Kevin, what model phone do you have? It ended up working for Dan, he just had to go under “All downloads” to see the images. Do you see that option? Or “All Photos” in the gallery?
i’m having the exact same problem. the pictures are showing up in my gallery after i use method 2.. i have no idea how to access them.
aren’t*
It saves them to your SD Card under the folder “SavedMMS”. If it’s not showing up on your Gallery, you could always just plug the phone into your PC and then search the SD card for the “SavedMMS” folder.
I have an LG android. Option 1 didn’t work and I tried option 2. I assume text text photo is saved to my SC card but it didn’t post it in my gallery. How do I send it to the gallery or find it in the SD card so that I can email it to myself?
It saves them to your SD Card under the folder “SavedMMS”. If it’s not showing up on your Gallery, you could always just plug the phone into your PC and then search the SD card for the “SavedMMS” folder.
Thank you John. It eventually showed up in the Gallery! Just took about a whole day but finally showed up. Thank you for your suggestion!
Great! No problem, I’m glad to be of help. Thanks for reporting back!
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I kept a 100 thread text from one person because I did not want to lose the pictures and had no clue of how to safe them. Good looking out!
You’re very welcome! Thanks for visiting the website. I hope you find our other articles helpful as well.
works great thank you!
Option #1 worked, you are AWESOME! Although, for anyone having trouble, make sure you do not have your phone hooked to your computer, it won’t allow you to save when its linked.
Will this also work for music sent to you that u want to save as a ringtone?
Sure, it’s worth a shot to try it out and see if it works. Just save the file attachment via the instructions above. Then go to your homescreen -> Click Menu -> Select Settings-> Sounds-> Ringtones… see if the file you saved is available to select from there. If not, it might be saved as a wrong file type. You could try using the app RingDroid instead to save it in the right format.
thank you i just got my android so I’m not familiar with it yet so this was very helpful
My pleasure! I’m glad you found it helpful. Thanks for visiting the website.
Hello ! Okay so Method #1 works ACCEPT I click the image and I long press it and about 2 seconds later the option thing will appear, not even a second later will it disappear! It doesnt even let me get to the options ! Any suggestions?! need help!
Thank you I really needed this info!!!
What if it comes from email?
Once i have the picture messages saved, if i want to send one that i received to someone how do i do that? I have tried everything cant get it to work….
i saved the pictures to mms app but cant find them in gallery..i hace cut phone off and cut back on and still cant access in gallery…please help
I saved a voice attachment to my sd card and now I’m not sure how too find it can someone help??
Method 2 worked for me. Thanks so much for the help.
Thank you! I was about to freak out b/c my phone wouldn’t let me save pictures from text messages…. That is lame in itself…. But downloading the app works great. Thank you again!
THANK YOU!
Oh thank you so much for this. I’d spent ages faffing around on my phone, pouring over the manual and it said nothing about saving messages… and all I had to do was press for a little bit longer!
Thank you sooo much. I’ve been trying to figure this out for months
Agreed- thanks so much!
I just got a droid Maxx and I’m trying to save my pictures from text messages onto my SD card, but it won’t let me. It gives me the option of “VIEW” “SAVE” and “SHARE.” When I click SAVE, it automatically saves them in a “MESSAGING FOLDER” in the internal memory of the phone. Seeing as I keep a LOT of pictures on my phone, that will fill up space quickly. How can I change the settings?
Thank you very much. It worked perfectly. I really do appreciate it.
You are very welcome! Thanks for visiting our website.
Thanks this was very helpful!!!
No problem! Hope you find our other Android tutorials to be just as helpful.
I spent ages trying to figure out how to save a text picture. I googled it, saw your method one and it was done in a couple of seconds.
Thank you so much!!!
Thank you SO much. Got my Android phone just before my new granddaughter arrived and could NOT figure out how to save pics people would send me.
Hi! So I,just had prom and my dad emailed the pics he took to me but there is no option to save them on my Android and whem I went to the actual triad.rr website and it let me save it but it won’t show u p in my gallery. Ive tried everything!! Help me please. I have a Android Versions 4 glite Pantech breakout thamks!!!
hey. thanks. this did not work at first, but that’s because i had to long press the actual picture to save it, not the message..
Thank you. That was awesome. Used method one and tah-dah! Great website.
Thank you so much! This helped me a ton
Thank you SO much. So simple and yet I could not manage to figure this out myself. Very very grateful for this post!
I used the app and I saved all of the pics like you said to do bit they still wont show up in my gallary do you have any advice for me?
Thansk so much for this information, I feel like a total idiot because I’ve had a droid x for almost two years and just assumed i could not save pics that were sent to my by text! I really appreciate this post and thanks again!
You’re very welcome!
I hope you find the other lessons here to be just as helpful!
Thank you this is very helpful and i will be pass the infomation on to other droid users
Thank you sooooo much! This was making me crazzzzyyyyyy so i really really appreciate your help
The long press worked perfectly on my Motorola Triumph, putting the pix in a Downloads folder under Gallery. The option I got was “Copy attached to SD card,” however, “Not “Save picture.” Thanks so much!
Thanks for the tips. Method one worked great for me. I spent an hour trying to figure it out before I looked this up. Next time I get stumped I will come here first.
Thanks again,
Allen
thank you sooooooo much…saved my career, will be paying forward this blessing asap. thanks
Thanks , worked like a charm.