iMessage Archive?

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Level 1

4 points

iMessage Archive?

I've had two iPhone in a time period of three years―same number, same iMessage account―and countless messages in these two phones. Is there a way to see all of them? On television shows, I see that you can see transcripts of text messages, and my parents used to constantly threaten to look at my messages through the phone company when they still paid for my phone. Is there a way to do the same with iMessages? Sometimes I just want to revisit old conversation. I've tried using apps that go through deleted messages, but they don't go far back at all. 😕

iPhone 5, iOS 9.3

Posted on Mar 25, 2016 3:30 PM

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Answer 1

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Ralph-Johns-UK

Level 9

76,795 points

May 1, 2016 4:03 PM in response to blopezz

Hi,

If they were deleted then they are effectively gone.

As with most OSes the "delete" may not remove them from the drive until overwritten with something else and you may be able to "get them back" in some way with other tools.

iMessages are deleted from the server the moment your device accepts them.

You cannot "download" them again if you delete them.

If you have a Mac linked to the iPhone for iMessages that version of the App can bet set to Save Chats.

However if you choose Delete here as well that will remove the item from the iMessages "history" as well as the Saved Chats.

8:22 pm Monday; March 28, 2016

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (El Capitan)
 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

May 2, 2016 11:15 AM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Hi,

An Email tells me I was awarded some Helpful points.

Thank you.

7:15 pm Monday; May 2, 2016

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (El Capitan)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 iPhone and an iPad (2)

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