In need of help, is she altering his text messages! !!!!#!

[Very curious]

OK so my husband has a crazy ex , and I know we all know about them but she had showed some really bad messages to a family member of mine that came from his phone, but he swears he never sent them and he deletes all his messages immediately. So is there a way to verify if a text message has been altered, because I have recently found that there is a app that allows you to change messages. .... in need of help asap because a divorce is needed if he sent them messages! !!!!!!!

 

[argedion]

OK so my husband has a crazy ex , and I know we all know about them but she had showed some really bad messages to a family member of mine that came from his phone, but he swears he never sent them and he deletes all his messages immediately. So is there a way to verify if a text message has been altered, because I have recently found that there is a app that allows you to change messages. .... in need of help asap because a divorce is needed if he sent them messages! !!!!!!!

It maybe be possible since you discovered an app that can do so. If your husband is deleting his messages personally I would be concerned. People only delete what they don't want discovered. But I don't know your husband so I can only speculate.

 

[lunatic59]

I'm going to assume that we're talking about text messages (SMS) here. And yes, I do see an app that apparently lets you edit SMS messages called SMS editor. I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure if it leaves an identifying trail. That would be determined by the app itself and how it modifies the message database. before we can answer that, we'd need to know the app that was used.

Let's talk for a minute about how SMS works with Android. SMS messages are plain text messages sent using a special protocol over the mobile carrier telephone network. When a text message is sent or received it is stored in a protected system database which includes the message, the sender and the date/time. When a message is deleted it is gone from the phone. There are no default backups for messages so if there wasn't a 3rd party backup in place there won't be a record of it.
The carrier, however, does keep a record of messages sent for billing purposes and while the account owner can usually see this on the bill or through online account info, you only see the sending and receiving numbers, not the actual content of the message. The carrier may have the content, too, but I believe that they won't turn that over without a court order.

Let's do a hypothetical here. Person #1 sends a text message to person #2. Person #2 receives the message and then edits it. Person #1 deletes the message from the sending phone. At this point it appears that the altered message on person #2's phone came from person#1. Person #1's phone has no record of the sent message because it was deleted. However, the carrier will show that on a certain date and time a message from person #1's phone was sent to person#2. What it won't tell you is what was contained in that message.

Consider this. It is also possible to spoof a phone number where it appears that a text message was sent from person#1 but they never actually sent it. In that case the carrier may be able to trace it back to the origin, or at least verify that it wasn't sent by the authorized number. You'd have to talk to them about that.

I'd like to ask that others not suggest any legal, moral or ethical opinions and stick only the technical question about editing SMS messages.

 

[dvhttn]

... If your husband is deleting his messages personally I would be concerned. People only delete what they don't want discovered. ...

What complete tripe! The reason things get deleted is because, in the case of email for example, they've been dealt with and are no longer required. Same case with SMS messages. By default a lot (most?) email clients and SMS apps do not keep 'sent' items, you have to set this up so they are not kept. Also, my main mode of reply to a text is 'yep', 'ok' or 'no'. Why would I want to keep that?????

 

[argedion]

I can only go by my experience having a teenage daughter that only deleted those things she did not want me or her mom to see. However I do believe it was asked to keep this about editing SMS messages.

 

[lunatic59]

By default a lot (most?) email clients and SMS apps do not keep 'sent' items, you have to set this up so they are not kept.

It's actually the opposite (for SMS). Messaging apps will store sent messages by default or prompt you the first time a text message is sent and ask if you want to store sent messages. What many apps have is a message limit that will delete the oldest messages when new ones arrive. Some will prompt you, some won't. And some won't have any of these options. It depends on the app.

People delete messages for many reasons. Sometimes it's technical, sometimes it's accidental and sometimes it's deceptive. We don't know the op or her husband, their situation, motives etc. so unless the op asks specifically for personal advice, let's not offer it.

 

[Hadron]

Consider this. It is also possible to spoof a phone number where it appears that a text message was sent from person#1 but they never actually sent it. In that case the carrier may be able to trace it back to the origin, or at least verify that it wasn't sent by the authorized number. You'd have to talk to them about that.

I've not tried that SMS Edit app, but it claims that it can edit the sender information as well as the content of the message. If so someone could send a message to themselves then edit it to look like it came from someone else.

 

[hiredgun]

Here is what I found trying to give the benefit of the doubt to the poor guy, lol.

http://slideme.org/application/fake-sms-and-edit-sms

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rayy.android.editad&hl=en

 

[EarlyMon]

So is there a way to verify if a text message has been altered...

No. No there is not.

That's the only question asked in the OP.

And really - that's the answer.