how to find deleted text messages on mac

If you just want to see the good stuff you can find the notebook with the minimal code to extract and prepare the data here. Green bubble messages unfortunately are not captured. Note: this approach only works for Macs (laptops and desktops) and only gets your iMessage history. This is a somehow technical guide for extracting all the iMessage data in your computer’s hard drive and putting them in an analysis-friendly file. Well you’re in luck! Your Apple computer stores that message history right within your grasp in a hidden folder on your hard drive! When using the Messages app, you can see all your history of messages on that device and maybe (like me) you have wondered where exactly is that data stored? Can you access it in a format that is easy to analyze? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to see how many messages you have sent per day? Or read the first message you have ever sent to your friends? You of course will now have lost any messages from the time the backup was made, but I'm guessing those old messages were more important.If you use the Messages app on your Apple computer then you probably have connected your Apple-Id to that computer in order to send and receive iMessages across all your Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, computer). Go back in to Containers and do the same for. Pick a suitable date and restore Messages. Go back up and enter Time Machine (Top right side, with the clock rewinding).

Rename Messages (Message-old), and go in to Containers and rename in the same way. Open Finder, use Option -> Go (option then shows extra hidden menu option) and select Library. Next, ctrl click iMessages and select Quit (two finger tap). In iMessage, use Preferences -> Accounts, and sign out of everything.

If you don't have, and you have shared iMessages on your other iOS devices those deleted messages are probably there still.

Time Machine is brilliant and I highly recommend everybody to have this device. So my updated instructions are:įirstly, you need a Time Machine backup. After following the instructions and not getting anywhere, I figured out that you also have to restore.

I've just done this myself on El Capitan.

How to find deleted text messages on mac