Is there a way to sync old imessages from an iphone to a mac

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Level 1

6 points

Is there a way to sync old imessages from an iphone to a mac

Hello,

Does anyone know of a way to sync old messages from the iPhone to a Macbook?? I've had an iPhone for years now, but my Macbook is only a year old. I'd like to be able to have the chat history from my phone available on my Macbook. Is there some file that can be saved or moved from the iPhone onto the Macbook that can either sync with the Macbook message file, or even overwrite it so it would just be a copy of the message file from the iPhone???

Any help, tips, or advice would be greatly appreciated!!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 25, 2015 2:10 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 25, 2015 12:18 PM in response to Lovey81

Hi,

Sort answer.

No.

Long Answer

iMessages are not stored at the iMessages servers.

Effectively each iMessages is sent to the iMessages servers on it's way to the final destination.

If this was only the iPhone number there is only One Copy.

It is deleted from the servers once delivered.

There is no "history" to "Download".

In fact they are not downloaded as they are pushed at your device until it responds.

In the case of two linked devices then the iMessages servers do create a "copy" and then two separate iMessages are pushed to the devices uniquely until both have answered.

The Sync also only works from the time it is created. There is no "catch-up" of older stuff like there might be in a mail app.

If in this case a Mac is Off line for a period then the iPhone version is delivered and deleted and the other keeps trying until the Mac is On and accepts then it is also deleted.

AS each login is unique then only that device can Accept that copy of the iMessage. The other devices can't "See" it.

The iOS devices and the OS X Mac will store the iMessages differently so you cannot extract one to use on the other.

The best you can do is have a Back up of the iPhone on your iTunes and extract the text so you can store it on the Mac.

8:18 p.m. Thursday; June 25, 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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Answer 2

Lovey81 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jun 25, 2015 1:23 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Thanks Ralph for the response, but honestly this is only half an answer. An answer I've seen on many other posts, so apparently other people would like to do this, so I can't help but wonder why Apple hasn't come up with a way to do this.

But anyway, back to my question. I realize you can't "SYNC" the messages once they've been delivered off the server, but if you actually read my question, I'm basically asking if there's a file on the iPhone that can be copied & pasted on the Mac. The messages are gone from the server, but they are still on the iPhone, so they have to be in a file on the phone. So there should be some way of getting that file off the phone, & onto the Mac. All the messages on my Mac are on my phone, so if I overwrite the message file on my Mac with the message file from my phone, it's not a problem. I would still have all my messages, PLUS all the older messages that I want.

Using an iTunes Backup, I was able to find the message file from my phone, & when I open it in TextEdit, I can see it's my messages. But when I try to use iMessage to open the file, I just get the actually messages that have come through on the Mac, not the info from the file from the phone.

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Answer 3

Jun 25, 2015 1:40 PM in response to Lovey81

HI,

Using an iTunes Backup, I was able to find the message file from my phone, & when I open it in TextEdit, I can see it's my messages. But when I try to use iMessage to open the file, I just get the actually messages that have come through on the Mac, not the info from the file from the phone.

I am glad I was clear enough that you were able to check it out for yourself.

I also thought this was clear:-

The iOS devices and the OS X Mac will store the iMessages differently so you cannot extract one to use on the other.

I have been messing about with iChat and Messages since iChat version 2 in 2004

Whilst things do change And it can take a while to find a solution I have not seen one for this despite the fact many people ask for it.

On a Mac Saved chats are saved as .iChat files

Or they are part of the chat.db database items.

On the iPhone they are effectively text files of the Chat as less data (no formatting of Balloons and Fonts) are "Saved" when and Chat is left on display in the app.

This is not readable by the Mac OS and the Messages app in particular.

Realistically the issue is similar to getting a Windows file that you cannot open a Mac.

Like some Windows files integration is only surface deep.

9:40 p.m. Thursday; June 25, 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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Answer 4

Lovey81 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jun 25, 2015 2:28 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Ok, how about this. Is there a way to edit the Chat.db file on a Mac?? Like if I open the Text file from the phone backup, copy the contents of it, open the Chat.db with TextEdit & paste the contents into that file, then save it??

I've actually tried this, but there must be something I'm missing, cause the new content isn't showing up. And when i've tried to do it to Archived Chat .dbs, & open them individually, it says the file is corrupt.

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Answer 5

Jun 26, 2015 12:48 PM in response to Lovey81

Hi,

I have come across this:-

https://gist.github.com/nschum/1cf00aee2f1ac8869df4

It is about sometimes the chat.db items are not updated across an updated creating some incompatible files.

This process allows you to, 1) sort out the older files and 2) then merge them (if you have the "right" Darwin version).

As you can see the files are identified as SQL files (lite version) which it seems is on the Mac but only accessible by the System.

I don't know enough about SQL to say if you could "merge" other text data as it were even if you obtained a SQL app.

The three chat.db items seem in some ways to have taken over from the com.apple.iChat.LSSharedFileList.plist file.

This used to hold the details of the Recent Chats you had.

You can no longer Display these lists in Messages (used to be in the File Menu).

However they are more detailed as not only do they contain the iMessages "history" even if you don't Save Chats but they seem to have an index of all the Saved chats even if they are AIM and Jabber (or Yahoo and Bonjour) ones.

You can keep Chats on the iPhone but they will fill up the memory.

How long it takes before this is an issue will depend on what else is stored on your iPhone.

Currently the only way to gain space and "save" the iPhone ones is to extract the text from an iTunes back up and save it as a text file.

This is the Messages Feedback page http://www.apple.com/feedback/ichat.html

It was the iChat one before that.

Apple have never been very good at updating it. (they do best now the page is on the list to update when a new OS version comes out)

It is complicated now by the fact that both Mavericks and Yosemite list Messages as "version 8" whilst there were at least three update during Mavericks and there have been at least one in Yosemite (They no longer give the changes sub set numbers).

Add everything you need to in the free text area.

8:48 p.m. Friday; June 26, 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

Reply