How to export an iMessage conversation

Apple's Messages app has no export button, so you export an iMessage conversation from a Mac. To save one conversation as a document, open it in Messages, choose Print from the File menu, and save it as a PDF. To export your whole chat history, use the Mac's Messages database, chat.db in ~/Library/Messages, which holds every conversation on that Mac; Story of Us reads it in your browser. On an iPhone alone you can only copy or screenshot a few messages at a time, so turn on Messages in iCloud to bring the history to your Mac first.

Exporting it to make something for the two of you? Once you have the file, it’s about a minute to a keepsake — the import screen shows these steps too.

Make our iMessage keepsake One-time · no subscription · stays on your device

What you need

A Mac that has the conversation in Messages — Apple does not publish a supported way to export full iMessage history from an iPhone or iPad alone, so a Mac is required. If your texts live on your iPhone, Messages in iCloud brings them to the Mac first. From there, you export the Mac's chat.db database, which holds your whole history. Reading chat.db directly is Story of Us's own import method, not an Apple-provided export feature: Apple publishes no export or support article for this workflow, so the chat.db steps below are verified by Story of Us's own testing against the current version of Finder and macOS System Settings as of the date at the bottom of this page, not sourced from Apple documentation. The Messages in iCloud steps follow Apple's own guide, linked under Sources.

Export your full chat history from chat.db

1. Bring your history to the Mac. If the history is on your iPhone, turn on Messages in iCloud on the iPhone and the Mac, signed in to the same Apple Account, and give the Mac time to download your messages.
2. Open Finder. Click the Finder icon in your Mac's dock — any open Finder window works.
3. Open the Go to Folder dialog. Press Command, Shift and G together.
4. Paste the folder path. Type or paste ~/Library/Messages and press Return. The first time a browser reads this folder, macOS may prompt for Full Disk Access in System Settings, under Privacy and Security.
5. Find chat.db. Inside that folder is a file named chat.db, the local database of every Messages conversation on that Mac.
6. Upload chat.db. Open the iMessage import screen and drag chat.db into the drop zone. It is read directly in your browser.

Turning on Messages in iCloud

On your iPhone, go to Settings → your name → iCloud → See All → Messages in iCloud and turn on Use on this iPhone. On your Mac, open Messages and choose Messages → Settings → iMessage, then select Enable Messages in iCloud. Both devices need to be signed in to the same Apple Account, and Apple notes that it can take some time for all your messages to appear the first time.

Only have an iPhone?

Messages on iPhone has no export button, so the iPhone-only options are a few messages at a time. To copy a message, touch and hold it, tap Copy, and paste it into Notes or Mail; for a longer stretch, take screenshots. To get the whole conversation out, you need a Mac with Messages in iCloud turned on — then export it from there.

The file you're looking for

chat.db is a single SQLite database file — no unzipping needed, and it can be tens or hundreds of megabytes for a long history. It isn't a document you can open and read: database tools can open it, but your messages, contacts and conversations sit in separate linked tables, so it doesn't read like a conversation. The import screen does that reading for you, entirely in your browser; the file itself is never uploaded to a server.

Common problems

• Full Disk Access prompt keeps appearing, or the folder looks empty. Grant Full Disk Access to your browser in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access, then reload the page.
• Only have an iPhone, no Mac. There's no supported way around this for iMessage specifically — a Mac with the conversation in Messages is required.
• Recent texts from the iPhone are missing on the Mac. Messages in iCloud may still be syncing — check it's turned on for both devices and give it time.
• History looks shorter than expected. If Messages is set to keep history for 30 days or one year instead of Forever (Messages → Settings → General), older messages may already be gone from chat.db before you ever open it.
• It's a group chat. Story of Us is built for one-on-one texting; a group thread's chat.db usually won't parse into a clean two-person story.

Privacy, plainly

Your Mac’s chat.db never leaves your device: it’s read right there in your browser. To write the captions, a much smaller slice goes to our server: your most-used words and phrases, counts and rhythms (who texts more, your streaks, your busiest hour), and a few sample messages, your first texts and your most recent. Never the file, never the whole conversation. Read exactly what we send →

What you get

Once your chat.db is on your Mac, this is what it can become. It’s built only from your own history: pet names and inside jokes it noticed on its own, your year-by-year rhythm, your busiest hour, the words you reach for without thinking. Read it on screen, then download the PDF to keep or print, ready in about a minute. No subscription, nothing shipped.

Make our iMessage keepsake One-time · no subscription · stays on your device

Want the fuller picture first? See the iMessage keepsake page →

Want it on paper? Print an iMessage conversation →

Thinking book, not just the file? iMessage chat book options →

Exported and want the story, not just the file? Turn your text messages into a book →

Exported and curious what the numbers say? See your iMessage stats →