Read all SMS from a particular sender

Question

How do I read all SMSes from a particular sender to me? E.g. I want to scan a) the body, and b) the date/time of all SMSes that came from 'TM-MYAMEX' to the phone.

Some websites seem to indicate this can be read from "content://sms/inbox". I couldn't figure out exactly how. Also not sure if it is supported on most phones. I am using a Galaxy S2.

Answer 1

try this way:

StringBuilder smsBuilder = new StringBuilder();
       final String SMS_URI_INBOX = "content://sms/inbox"; 
        final String SMS_URI_ALL = "content://sms/";  
        try {  
            Uri uri = Uri.parse(SMS_URI_INBOX);  
            String[] projection = new String[] { "_id", "address", "person", "body", "date", "type" };  
            Cursor cur = getContentResolver().query(uri, projection, "address='123456789'", null, "date desc");
             if (cur.moveToFirst()) {  
                int index_Address = cur.getColumnIndex("address");  
                int index_Person = cur.getColumnIndex("person");  
                int index_Body = cur.getColumnIndex("body");  
                int index_Date = cur.getColumnIndex("date");  
                int index_Type = cur.getColumnIndex("type");         
                do {  
                    String strAddress = cur.getString(index_Address);  
                    int intPerson = cur.getInt(index_Person);  
                    String strbody = cur.getString(index_Body);  
                    long longDate = cur.getLong(index_Date);  
                    int int_Type = cur.getInt(index_Type);  

                    smsBuilder.append("[ ");  
                    smsBuilder.append(strAddress + ", ");  
                    smsBuilder.append(intPerson + ", ");  
                    smsBuilder.append(strbody + ", ");  
                    smsBuilder.append(longDate + ", ");  
                    smsBuilder.append(int_Type);  
                    smsBuilder.append(" ]\n\n");  
                } while (cur.moveToNext());  

                if (!cur.isClosed()) {  
                    cur.close();  
                    cur = null;  
                }  
            } else {  
                smsBuilder.append("no result!");  
            } // end if  
            }
        } catch (SQLiteException ex) {  
            Log.d("SQLiteException", ex.getMessage());  
        }  

AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_SMS" />

Answer 2

try this, its a easy way for reading message from inbox.

public class ReadMsg extends AppCompatActivity {

ListView listView;
private static final int PERMISSION_REQUEST_READ_CONTACTS = 100;
ArrayList smsList;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_read_msg);
    listView = (ListView)findViewById(R.id.idList);

    int permissionCheck = ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.READ_SMS);

    if (permissionCheck == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED){
        showContacts();
    }else{
        ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(this, new String[]{Manifest.permission.READ_SMS},PERMISSION_REQUEST_READ_CONTACTS);
    }
}

private void showContacts() {
    Uri inboxURI = Uri.parse("content://sms/inbox");
    smsList = new ArrayList();
    ContentResolver cr = getContentResolver();


    Cursor c = cr.query(inboxURI,null,null,null,null);
    while (c.moveToNext()){
        String Number = c.getString(c.getColumnIndexOrThrow("address")).toString();
        String Body= c.getString(c.getColumnIndexOrThrow("body")).toString();
        smsList.add("Number: "+ Number + "\n" + "Body: "+ Body );
    }
        c.close();
    ArrayAdapter adapter = new ArrayAdapter(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, smsList);
    listView.setAdapter(adapter);
}

}

Add this permission into Manifests.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_SMS"></uses-permission>

Answer 3

 protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        inbox = (Button) findViewById(R.id.inbox);
        list = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.list);
        arlist = new ArrayList<String>();
        inbox.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                Uri inboxUri = Uri.parse("content://sms/inbox");
                String[] reqCols = {"_id", "body", "address"};
                ContentResolver cr = getContentResolver();
                Cursor cursor = cr.query(inboxUri, reqCols, "address='+919456'", null, null);
                adapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(getApplicationContext(), R.layout.msg_content_layout, cursor,
                        new String[]{"body", "address"}, new int[]{R.id.txt1, R.id.txt2});
                list.setAdapter(adapter);
            }
        });

    }

Here I have added the number +919456 as the value of the address field.

Apart from this you need to add the READ_SMS permission to manifest: