How can I read SMS messages from the device programmatically in Android?

Question

I want to retrieve the SMS messages from the device and display them?

Answer 1

Use Content Resolver ("content://sms/inbox") to read SMS which are in inbox.

// public static final String INBOX = "content://sms/inbox";
// public static final String SENT = "content://sms/sent";
// public static final String DRAFT = "content://sms/draft";
Cursor cursor = getContentResolver().query(Uri.parse("content://sms/inbox"), null, null, null, null);

if (cursor.moveToFirst()) { // must check the result to prevent exception
    do {
       String msgData = "";
       for(int idx=0;idx<cursor.getColumnCount();idx++)
       {
           msgData += " " + cursor.getColumnName(idx) + ":" + cursor.getString(idx);
       }
       // use msgData
    } while (cursor.moveToNext());
} else {
   // empty box, no SMS
}

Please add READ_SMS permission.

I Hope it helps :)