How to save SMS and iMessages from iOS to a PC or MAC

IdrisSeabright wrote:

mavis_s90 wrote:

I tried the free trial version of PhoneView and I agree that it's pretty useful and much better than the similar iPhone mangers out there like Wondershare Tunesgo (I don't remember the exact name) but still I didn't purchase the full version because I just wanted to save my text messages.

If you save them more than a couple of times, it's probably worth it. I archive my messages regularly so, being able to do it quickly and without fuss is invaluable. Especially when I end up with a very nicely formatted PDF that requires no tweaking.

You're right, If you open the Message, you can hold your finger on one of the Message Segments until a pop-up shows up and click More ...then you can tap on each circle to the left of each Message Segment, then at the bottom of the screen you will see a curved arrow, click on it. All you message segments will now be integrated on another page. Then you can click on that and choose Select All and you can Copy and put it in an Email.

EyeAmle wrote:

IdrisSeabright wrote:

mavis_s90 wrote:

I tried the free trial version of PhoneView and I agree that it's pretty useful and much better than the similar iPhone mangers out there like Wondershare Tunesgo (I don't remember the exact name) but still I didn't purchase the full version because I just wanted to save my text messages.

If you save them more than a couple of times, it's probably worth it. I archive my messages regularly so, being able to do it quickly and without fuss is invaluable. Especially when I end up with a very nicely formatted PDF that requires no tweaking.

You're right, If you open the Message, you can hold your finger on one of the Message Segments until a pop-up shows up and click More ...

I'm not sure how I can be right as I didn't suggest that. I think it's far more time consuming that what I did suggest. While it's good enough for a one off, it doesn't work nearly as well as PhoneView.

DianeKruger wrote:

Trevoorre wrote:

I use PhoneView. It's a Mac application. TouchCopy gets recommended for both Windows and Mac.

Just want to export text messages from iPhone. I never know about PhoneView and TouchCopy. iTune or iCloud can do this for me?

Thanks for the heads up. I got the app and downloaded the free software to my macbook pro and presto - texts are there. Very helpful in getting texts admitted as evidence.

LaPortaave wrote:

Thanks for the heads up. I got the app and downloaded the free software to my macbook pro and presto - texts are there. Very helpful in getting texts admitted as evidence.

Well, not has helpful as you might think. Once downloaded the texts can be easily edited, so if the other lawyer is competent they would be excluded as evidence.

if you have a Yosemite mac, and enable SMS forwarding, the SMS and iMessage will automatically go in the Messages app in the Mac. you can therefore archive these messages in the app. And even if the Mac crashes/dies, the Time machine backup will have a copy of the SMS+iMessages, forever.

Also, The SMS and iMessage are automatically saved in the iTunes/iCloud Backup, however, this has 2 drawbacks:

• If the iPhone is lost/dies, you'll be able to recover the messages only by putting the backup on a newly reset/bought iPhone.
• the backup only saves current SMS/iMessage, which means that if you manually delete from the iPhone the messages, it will also delete from the backup next time the backup syncs. This therefore doesn't allow "archiving".

So the first solution is best if you have a Mac, especially since it's for legal reasons, for which it is recommended to have 2 versions of the files.

Hope this helps 🙂

<Edit>: Also, you'll probably never find an app that syncs messages, since iOS is a sandbox OS, meaning the Apps don't have access to the data of other apps. so Messages data isn't available to any other app.

CaptFox wrote:

Back to the drawing board. User has a Windows machine and no access to a MAC.

TouchCopy is a Windows application that will do what you want. However, it is not free.

Trevoorre wrote:

I use PhoneView. It's a Mac application. TouchCopy gets recommended for both Windows and Mac.

Just want to export text messages from iPhone. I never know about PhoneView and TouchCopy. iTune or iCloud can do this for me?

DianeKruger wrote:

Just want to export text messages from iPhone. I never know about PhoneView and TouchCopy. iTune or iCloud can do this for me?

iCloud and iTunes can back up your messages. They cannot export them. Hence the need for third party software.

Export iMessages App allows you to Save Print Backup Recover Text SMS iMessages to MAC/PC. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/export-messages-save-print/id952632588?mt=8

Does anyone know if there are legacy applications to do this on PPCs running 10.5.8? All the applications I've see require a newer system.

As far as I know saving text messages on iPhone is really easy and simple. But unfortunately I don't know a free solution. But you could search online for applications which backup iPhone text messages which is simple just as saving them. Many of them might be worth the price if you need to transfer messages or just save them on the system for further usage.

I've found an easy solution. As suggested in one of the Quora answer here: https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-save-my-iPhone-text-messages-and-iMessages-witho ut-using-a-computer-or-iCloud I found my SMS/Text Messages backup here: C:\Users\~\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup and then extracted the text messages in a readable format using this free SQLite Database Browser.

mavis_s90 wrote:

I've found an easy solution.

You have an interesting idea of what constitutes "easy". 😉 But, as long as it works for you.

I'm happy with the $30 I spent about five years ago on PhoneView. Well worth the price.