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On your Mac, iMessages are stored in a SQLite database which you can inspect. https://spin.atomicobject.com/2020/05/22/search-imessage-sql/ https://spin.atomic

On your Mac, iMessages are stored in a SQLite database which you can inspect. https://spin.atomicobject.com/2020/05/22/search-imessage-sql/ https://spin.atomicobject.com/2020/05/22/search-imessage-sql...

kccqzy 5y ago
Can confirm. Shameless plug: I wrote a script to extract the pertinent information from the SQLite database into an HTML page a while back: https://github.com/kccqzy/imessage-db-extract/blob/master/imsgextract https://github.com/kccqzy/imessage-db-extract/blob/master/im... It's open source abandonware though. Lost interest in keeping up with the schema updates because I no longer use iMessage.
chmaynard 5y ago
That's an undocumented implementation detail. It might change without warning at any time. Are you seriously recommending this as a solution for users who want to be able to read past messages?
- tedunangst 5y ago
  Works a lot better than doing nothing.
- koolba 5y ago
  I’d imagine it’d be difficult for Apple to migrate to anything substantially different as it’d require rewriting a potentially multi GB file, the space for which many users would not have. It’s effectively a massive, distributed, database migration.
  - shepherdjerred 5y ago
    Database formats change all of the time. There's no technical challenge here that hasn't been solved before.
- alisonkisk 5y ago
  Seems relevant news for hackers.
- stevenhuang 5y ago
  Your indignation is strange. Why would you not recommend it when there's no alternative?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - atatatat 5y ago
    His hacker ethos is broken recently. Lighten up a little, GP.
kemayo 5y ago
That does work, but only for messages stored locally. If you've enabled Messages in iCloud, it won't reliably contain everything.
meepmorp 5y ago
Same format as on iOS; you can/could copy the db out of an unencrypted iTunes dump. And, yeah, it’s a total mess.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mdoms 5y ago
What if you don't have a Mac? This is not a solution.
- mmwelt 5y ago
  The business solution would be... buy one! :-P

kccqzy 5y ago

Can confirm. Shameless plug: I wrote a script to extract the pertinent information from the SQLite database into an HTML page a while back: https://github.com/kccqzy/imessage-db-extract/blob/master/imsgextract https://github.com/kccqzy/imessage-db-extract/blob/master/im... It's open source abandonware though. Lost interest in keeping up with the schema updates because I no longer use iMessage.

chmaynard 5y ago

That's an undocumented implementation detail. It might change without warning at any time. Are you seriously recommending this as a solution for users who want to be able to read past messages?

tedunangst 5y ago
Works a lot better than doing nothing.
koolba 5y ago
I’d imagine it’d be difficult for Apple to migrate to anything substantially different as it’d require rewriting a potentially multi GB file, the space for which many users would not have. It’s effectively a massive, distributed, database migration.
- shepherdjerred 5y ago
  Database formats change all of the time. There's no technical challenge here that hasn't been solved before.
alisonkisk 5y ago
Seems relevant news for hackers.
stevenhuang 5y ago
Your indignation is strange. Why would you not recommend it when there's no alternative?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- atatatat 5y ago
  His hacker ethos is broken recently. Lighten up a little, GP.

kemayo 5y ago

That does work, but only for messages stored locally. If you've enabled Messages in iCloud, it won't reliably contain everything.

meepmorp 5y ago

Same format as on iOS; you can/could copy the db out of an unencrypted iTunes dump. And, yeah, it’s a total mess.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mdoms 5y ago

What if you don't have a Mac? This is not a solution.

mmwelt 5y ago
The business solution would be... buy one! :-P