Transfer SMS Text Messages From One Android Phone to Another

For whatever reason, the default transfer process between Android phones does not transfer your existing SMS text messages from your old phone to your new phone. In order to do this, use a tool from Carbonite called SMS Backup & Restore:

1. Download and install SMS Backup & Restore to both Android phones
2. While on the same WiFi network
1. Open SMS Backup & Restore on each phone
2. Select Transfer
3. From the phone you want to transfer from, select Send From This Phone
4. From the phone you want to transfer to, select Receive On This Phone
5. Follow the instructions on both phones to sync them up via an invitation process
6. On the phone you are transferring from, select Transfer text messages and call logs from the current state of your phone
7. Accept the transfer on the receiving phone

The only quirk to the process is that on the receiving phone you need to make SMS Backup & Restore the default messaging app in order for the restore process to work properly. But once you have finished this, you can go back into Google Messenger and set it back to being the default.

And voila! You should now have all of the text messages from your old phone on your new phone!