iMessage-exporter, a full-featured CLI app and library

In plain words

iMessage-exporter is a command-line tool and library that extracts and preserves iMessage conversations from Apple's database. It supports edited messages, app messages, reactions, and threaded conversations by reverse-engineering iMessage's SQLite structure. The tool is designed for users who want to archive and export their message history, particularly for personal preservation purposes.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

Export iMessage data + run iMessage Diagnostics. Contribute to ReagentX/imessage-exporter development by creating an account on GitHub.

In the maker’s words, at launch

I've spent a long time reverse engineering nearly every aspect of Apple's iMessage SQLite tables to build this program. As far as I know, there are no other tools that support the full corpus of iMessage features, including edited messages, app messages, reactions, and threads. I built this software to preserve some…

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