DanielMPCB

Q: how to recover imessage history

Hello,

 

Can you help me recover my ichat or i message history from one use only?

 

 

Thxs + Rgds,

 

DanielM.

iPhone 4, iOS 7.0.1

Posted on Sep 27, 2013 7:34 AM

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Q: how to recover imessage history

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  • by Hip79,

    Hip79 Hip79 Aug 4, 2015 11:53 AM in response to AnoushG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2015 11:53 AM in response to AnoushG

    I only occasionally use Messages. Now that I decided to use it instead of iPhone itself to engage in a long conversation, I noticed that there is a gap in my iMessage history in Messages. Seems that the last iMessages it has stored are from four months ago. I haven't changed anything in Messages Preferences since I first synced it with my iPhone and I've used iMessage continuously on my iPhone. All the iMessages from the sync point until four months ago are intact and after I now wrote the first iMessage in Messages, it syncs perfectly whether writing or receiving iMessages from my phone or Mac.

     

    Any ideas what may have gone wrong during the last four months and is there a way for me to recover that history in Messages?

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Aug 5, 2015 1:50 PM in response to Hip79
    Level 9 (73,348 points)
    Applications
    Aug 5, 2015 1:50 PM in response to Hip79

    Hi,

     

    If...

    you have linked Mac and iPhone  they should sync.

     

    There are provisos though.

    Basically an iMessages is duplicated at the server and uniquely sent to each device.

    If one device is Off line the iMessages servers keep trying.
    However there is a Time Limit on this although a precise time is difficult to say.

     

    Lets say an iMessages is delivered to the iPhone and not the Mac.

    I have done this when I have been away.

    My latest tests have given me the Sync updates up to 7 days later.

    I have seen posts here that say longer (one claimed 9 day and another 11 but both were posted after an issue with the iMessages servers).

     

    If a message has been delivered on the iPhone it is deleted on the Servers.

    If there is still one for the Mac still waiting it can only be received by the Mac.

     

    It really depends what you did during the 4 months.

    The upshot is they are no longer on the iMessages sever and you cannot get iMessages copies of this on to your Mac.  (You can send the whole text as a file from the iPhone but it will have not formatting).

    There are utilities out there to extract them from the Backup made in iTunes of your iOS device.

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:50 p.m.      Wednesday; August 5, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Hip79,

    Hip79 Hip79 Aug 13, 2015 1:03 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 13, 2015 1:03 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Thank you for the info, Ralph. It was helpful although nothing is to be done and it remains unclear why the syncing failed for a period of time.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Aug 13, 2015 1:22 PM in response to Hip79
    Level 9 (73,348 points)
    Applications
    Aug 13, 2015 1:22 PM in response to Hip79

    Understood.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:22 p.m.      Thursday; August 13, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Harry_The_Bustard,

    Harry_The_Bustard Harry_The_Bustard Sep 9, 2015 9:50 AM in response to DanielMPCB
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 9, 2015 9:50 AM in response to DanielMPCB

    I had to do a clean install and a rebuild due to invalid hard links which a clean install and restore from Time Machine didn't solve.

     

    I created a manual backup - painful and not perfect - to supplement an assumed-reliable Time Machine backup after my usual clone got clobbered by the invalid hard links.

     

    I followed much of the advice in the solution found to be best but with not quite so many steps as I've only ever used iMessage.

     

    In case it helps here's how I did it...

     

    Cleared out ~/Library/Messages

    Copied contents of ~/Library/Messages from Time Machine backup to Mac

    Restarted Mac - this sorting out the index - not doing so and starting Messages simply bringing a blank sheet up

     

    ...my only loss being two messages which arrived before I learned of and implemented the solution.

  • by NoWorriesMig,

    NoWorriesMig NoWorriesMig Oct 5, 2015 6:11 PM in response to Harry_The_Bustard
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 5, 2015 6:11 PM in response to Harry_The_Bustard

    Dear Friends,

     

    I have recently restored macbook pro from Time Machine backup, the backup was done 1 month ago, so the mac is what is was 1 month ago.

    however I can't see my iMessage history after the period of system restoration point, so I am missing 1 months of iMessages conversation history.

     

    I can see all the history on my iPhone tho. My iPhone is currently backed to iCloud in full.

     

    Please advice.

     

    Thanks in anticipation

    Regards

    Arash

    No Worries Migration

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Oct 6, 2015 12:00 PM in response to NoWorriesMig
    Level 9 (73,348 points)
    Applications
    Oct 6, 2015 12:00 PM in response to NoWorriesMig

    Hi,

     

    The "History"  you Restored will not include the 1 months after that.

    The Servers don't keep the iMessages that have been delivered and as they have been delivered within that month you can not get them.

     

    It works like this:-

    An iMessages is sent to either your iPhone Number ID or the Apple ID.

    If they are linked then the server "duplicates" the iMessages so it can be delivered to all registered Devices.

    It then Pushes as the process is called the iMessages to each device individually.

    Once the iPhone has it's "Copy" it is deleted from the iMessages server.

    As the Mac can be Off line more often than the iPhone it keep trying until the Mac accepts the iMessages then that too is deleted from the server.

     

    The iPhone cannot access "waiting" Mac version ones or vice versa.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:00 p.m.      Tuesday; October 6, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by idrizzy,

    idrizzy idrizzy Oct 8, 2015 6:14 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2015 6:14 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    hey there Ralph,

     

    I was hoping you'd help me out on a minor issue. I accidentally deleted my iMessage conversation on my iMac (I have the conversation synced with my phone though) and despite having "save history when conversations are closed" this didn't help, since I deleted the conversation.

     

    Is there a way to sync up my iMessages together again? I have located the history through the folder search above but I really can't do much with single days iMessages as it's tedious to click on each to see what part of the message I want to look at. But if I'm not mistaken this is the exact problem you're tackling, and I'm just wondering if there's a change and you've found a way to overcome this problem. Or, since I have the conversation synced with my iPhone, is there a way to import that conversation on my Mac iMessages?

     

    It's funny how something so trivial like recovering an accidentally deleted conversation can be so hard to recover back on the Mac.

  • by xbethwf,

    xbethwf xbethwf Dec 4, 2015 12:37 PM in response to DanielMPCB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2015 12:37 PM in response to DanielMPCB

    Hello,

     

    I am restoring my Mac in a week and would like my iMessages (and photos, documents etc on my Mac) to be restored when I restore the Mac. I am currently using OS X Yosemite (version 10.10.5) and have never backed-up or restored my Mac, so I have no idea on the process of restoring nor how I would go to restore my iMessages.

     

    Could someone please help me out (in simplistic steps); and just tell me the steps I will need to do (i.e. backup, what needs to be saved? and how to restore them).

     

    Any help would be much appreciated.

     

    Thank-you!

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Dec 4, 2015 1:55 PM in response to xbethwf
    Level 9 (73,348 points)
    Applications
    Dec 4, 2015 1:55 PM in response to xbethwf

    Hi,

     

    I do it like this.

    I have an external Hard Drive that is at least twice the size of the internal one.

    I enable Time Machine and let it do the Back up - it takes a longish time the first time.

     

    It can then be used when you do the CMD + R at the start up point as a source for the Restore.

     

    Another way not using that source is to "Restore" the OS from the Internet - Apple Basically. The app will find this and download an Install it without touching your Users Folder. Nor will it remove apps you have Installed.

     

    Time Machine can also be used in everyday function to Restore items in Folders.

    Lets say you have loose Pics in the Pictures folder that are not in iPhoto or Photos (depending which you have).

    Lets say you select some and Delete them by accident.

    You can go back to that folder and use the Time Machine icon in the Dock and it will Launch and changing to a staggered window view.

    each "tab" you can see is a date in the backups.

    An arrow set on the right allows you to "go back in time". It will move to the date with the last changes to the folder you are looking at.

    You can select the items you want and hit the Restore button and they will be brought forward to the current window.

     

    Other than that it will depend on why you think you need to Restore and what you hope to gain from it.

    Messing with individual parts of the Home Folder/Library can be fraught as far as Messages is concerned.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:55 pm      Friday; December 4, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by xbethwf,

    xbethwf xbethwf Dec 4, 2015 3:40 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2015 3:40 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    That's great, pretty simple then really. Thanks so much for an in-depth and fast reply!

     

    As for iMessages and my chat history, will they be automatically restored if i back up to Time Machine and use the backup to restore my things whether on the same Mac or another?

     

    (I am having problems with my Mac and will try restore, but if that doesn't work I might need to take it to Apple/use my insurance to get a replacement)

     

    Thanks again

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Dec 5, 2015 12:11 PM in response to xbethwf
    Level 9 (73,348 points)
    Applications
    Dec 5, 2015 12:11 PM in response to xbethwf

    Hi,

     

    I would tend to back up but then use the Internet option to Restore the OS and Apple Apps.

    This leaves third party apps like Office or games alone as well as the Users folders (the one with the Little House icon and any other folder inside the Users Folder).

     

    Consequences.

    Notes really.

     

    "Having Problems" is not really that specific.

    For instance turning Off the AppleGothic Font causes the Messages app not to launch.

    Removing Helvetica affects a whole load more and can then look like a major issue.

     

    If in the Font Book they are turned Off then this info about the settings is kept in the Preferences folder in your Home Folder.

    As this is untouched in any Restore the problem will not go away.

     

    There are the odd Font that can cause conflicts with others an cause similar symptoms.  the latest I have heard about on this front is the San Francisco Font.

     

    There are other items that people think seem to do nothing that can have major consequences if removed.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:11 pm      Saturday; December 5, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
  • by Freudentanz1,

    Freudentanz1 Freudentanz1 Dec 12, 2015 5:23 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 12, 2015 5:23 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Dear Ralph,

     

    Many thanks for your detailed advise!

     

    I am currently using OS X 10.11.2 and would love to know the way how to go about it on this version.

     

    I only deleted 1 chat of a person on my MacBook.

     

    Please help ASAP.

     

    Kind regards,

     

     

    Benedikt

  • by Freudentanz1,

    Freudentanz1 Freudentanz1 Dec 12, 2015 5:25 PM in response to idrizzy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 12, 2015 5:25 PM in response to idrizzy

    Have you found a solution?

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Dec 13, 2015 11:56 AM in response to Freudentanz1
    Level 9 (73,348 points)
    Applications
    Dec 13, 2015 11:56 AM in response to Freudentanz1

    Hi,

     

    If you mean the option to use Terminal to correct the Ownership and Permissions then read this Thread:-

    Reset Home Folder permissions and ACLs Error

    Read the whole Thread as Linc posts a Check method before the green box marked Solved answer that gives the Permissions and Ownership instructions.

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    7:56 pm      Sunday; December 13, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     Couple of iPhones and an iPad
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