For both professional and personal communication, I prefer Apple’s messaging app. Whether it’s the fun-loving Animoji or the advanced level of encryption, the Messages app has got almost all the bases covered to let me express all the colors of the feelings. However, the more I use this app, the more I want to protect the exchanged media and text. To save my data and also offer it an additional shield, I transfer my iPhone text messages to the computer.
Unlike before, it’s become a lot straightforward to manage iMessages across the iDevices. And just in case you aren’t happy with Apple’s offering or wish to get more flexibility to handle your messages, you can choose to try out third-party software.
How to Transfer Text Messages or iMessage from iPhone to Computer
Choose the messages you want to transfer to Mac and click 'Export' button on the menu bar to move them from iPhone to Mac. After a while, all selected text messages will be downloaded and transferred to Mac. The copied texts will be saved as CSV, HTML or TXT files based on your need. To transfer all your iPhone SMS text messages to your PC, click the button labeled 'Copy' which can be found at the bottom of the screen. Now you can save your all iPhone text messages to your PC in Text or Ants format. You can password protect your SMS database for personal privacy by choosing.ants format. Select the messages, including text messages (SMS) and iMessages, you want to save from your iPhone to the computer and click the 'Transfer to PC' button. After that, MobiMover will start downloading text messages from your iPhone to the computer automatically. When it has finished, you can go to the selected folder to check the messages. How to transfer iPhone messages and photos to your computer Firstly, you will need to open TouchCopy and connect your iPhone when prompted to do so. Once TouchCopy has loaded your device data, click the ' Messages ' tab on the left-hand side of TouchCopy. Click on 'SMS' from the options given on the left sidebar and it should display all the text messages from iPhone. If you want to save your messages to computer then simply click on 'Export to' then choose the directory where you are saving the messages and store them on your computer.
Have you also felt the need to offer an extra safeguard to your exchanged messages? If yes, check out the following tricks!
Method #1: Sync Messages with iCloud
If you are using the latest version of iOS 11 or later and macOS High Sierra or later, you can sync your Messages with iCloud. It’s the perfect way to not just keep your messages synchronized but also streamlined across the devices. And with the high level of encryption, all of your data has advanced security. Yet to use this highly appreciable feature? Follow our complete guide to getting started.
Method #2: Transfer iPhone Text Messages to Your Computer Using iTunes
Iphone Message Transfer To Pc
Another old-fashioned but straightforward way of saving your messages to the computer is to use iTunes. But the one big downside of this method is that you have to back up your entire device as there is no option to transfer only messages to computer.
How To Transfer Text Messages From Iphone To Mac Computer For Free Windows 7
If you want to offer an extra safeguard to your data or save some important information like your health data, website history, saved passwords, Wi-Fi settings, you can choose to encrypt your iTunes backup. To do so, head over to this hands-on guide.
Method #3: Use Third-Party Apps to Transfer Your iPhone Messages to Mac or Windows PC
Just in case, you aren’t pleased with the above two methods, you can use third-party software for Mac or Windows to transfer your iPhone messages to the computer.
There are some apps that I have tried and found pretty useful: iExplorer, EaseUS MobiMover, and Decipher TextMessage. You can also give them a spin to their free version to figure out if they are worth your time or not.
Talking about iExplorer, it’s a complete iPhone manager and lets you transfer several files including Messages, photos, files to your computer and manage them with more flexibility.
Decipher TextMessage makes it quite straightforward to move all of your messages to your computer and deal with them as per your requirement. Moreover, it also lets you save your iMessage in PDF format.
EaseUS MobiMover works as an efficient iPhone data transfer tool. You can use it to move several file types like photos, music, videos, messages, and more between your iOS and macOS/Windows PC devices with ease.
In this test, I’m going to demonstrate how its message transfer feature works. Keep in mind, it’s just for demo as the free version of the software doesn’t let you save data. You need to upgrade to the pro version to use the message transfer feature. The starting price for a lifetime license for a Windows PC is $39.95, while the lifetime license for Mac is available for $49.95.
Step #1. Before getting started, download EaseUS MobiMover for a demo on your computer.
Step #2. Now, connect the iPhone to the computer via USB cable and launch the app.
Step #3. Next, you have the option to set the location where you want to save the file. If not selected, your file will be automatically saved on the desktop. To do so, click on the folder icon next to Mac/Desktop and then choose the desired location and click on Open.
I’m going to save the file on the desktop.
After you have selected the destination, click on Next.
Step #4. On the next screen, uncheck the box next to Select All.
Step #5. Next up, make sure to tick the box only for Messages and then click on Transfer to save iPhone text messages on Mac.
Now, wait for some time until the process is completed. Once it’s done, you will see the confirmation “Transfer Completed!” And your messages will be saved in a folder called Exported by MobiMover
What About Saving the iMessages on iPhone Itself?
While there is no feature to save messages on the iPhone itself, there are a couple of ways that just about get the job done. While one way is to copy the text message and paste it in your Notes, the other way is to take the screenshot and save it to the Files app or your preferred location.
Your take?
What’s your take on the above solutions? Are they viable? Do share your thoughts about them down below in the comments. And yes, if you know any other trick, tell us about that as well.
How To Transfer Text Messages From Iphone To Mac Computer For Free Download
You might want to refer these posts as well:
The founder of iGeeksBlog, Dhvanesh, is an Apple aficionado, who cannot stand even a slight innuendo about Apple products. He dons the cap of editor-in-chief to make sure that articles match the quality standard before they are published.
- https://www.igeeksblog.com/author/dhvanesh/
- https://www.igeeksblog.com/author/dhvanesh/
- https://www.igeeksblog.com/author/dhvanesh/
- https://www.igeeksblog.com/author/dhvanesh/
How do I import a series of text messages between myself and another person from my iPhone 4S to my PC desktop. I need them for a legal reason and after importing them want to print them out. Thanks.
Many iPhone users may have encountered with this problem, for certain reasons, they need to copy text messages from iPhone to computer. The users may have tried to export them with iTunes, but get no luck. In fact, iTunes will only transfer the purchased items to computer, so the text messages cannot be transferred. Then can users do to save text messages from iPhone to Mac computers? The answer is YES.
Part 1. Transfer Text Messages from iPhone to Mac with Traditional Ways
The easiest method may be using the screen capturing function to save text messages from iPhone to Mac. Users can view the messages on their iPhone and then take a screenshot by holding the Sleep/Wake button and the home button at the same time. The snapshots will be saved in the iPhone Camera Roll, and the users can export them to computer with no efforts. This method is workable and pretty easy, but it may take very long time if the users have tons of text messages to export.
People can share files between MacBook and iOS devices with AirDrop, but to use it, the iOS device should run with iOS 7 or later, and the MacBook should run with OS X Yosemite. That's why an iPhone 3GS with iOS 6 can't copy SMS messages with AirDrop. If other users want to copy text messages from iPhone to Mac computer with AirDrop but have no idea on how to do it, the following tutorial will be helpful for you:
- Turn on Wi-Fi on your iPhone and Mac.
- Turn on Bluetooth on your iPhone (Settings > Bluetooth) and Mac (Menu Bar > Apple > System Preferences > Bluetooth > Turn Bluetooth On).
- Turn on AirDrop on your iPhone (Control Center > AirDrop) and choose 'Contacts Only' or 'Everyone'.
- Turn on AirDrop on your Mac (Finder > Menu Bar > Go > AirDrop). Click 'Allow me to be discovered by', and choose 'Contacts Only' or 'Everyone'.
- Tap the messages you want to copy to Mac computer, and then choose 'Share with AirDrop'.
- You will get the messages in your MacBook in short time.
With AirDrop in your iPhone and Mac computer, you are allowed to copy text messages from iPhone to Mac with ease. But if only want to back up the iPhone messages to Mac computer, you don't have to use AirDrop at all. iTunes will be helpful and much easier to use than AirDrop. The following tutorial will show you how to use iTunes to back up iPhone messages to Mac:
- Start iTunes and go to 'iTunes > Preferences > Devices', and check 'Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically'.
- Plug iPhone into computer via USB cable, and iTunes will automatically launch. If not, you need to manually start it.
- iTunes will recognize your iPhone and display the iPhone icon at the upper right corner. Click 'File > Device > Back Up' at the upper left corner.
- Then iTunes will create an iPhone backup on your Mac computer.
Part 2. Copy Text Messages from iPhone to Mac with iPhone Data Recovery Software
If you want to transfer text messages from iPhone to computer without spending much time, you can take advantage of the third-party iPhone data recovery program. I would like to introduce Leawo iOS Data Recovery to everyone. This program enables users to recover deleted files from iOS devices, and extract files from iTunes backups. It also helps users to backup iPhone, iPad and iPod touch files to computer, and the software will save the exported files in viewable files. The following guidance will show you how to copy text messages from iPhone to Mac computers, and how to extract text messages from iPhone backup. You are allowed to free download the software to have a try, note that the trial version will stop at the preview window.
1. Run Leawo iOS Data Recovery, and you will see three recovery modes in the main interface. One is 'Recover from iOS Device', and the other is 'Recover from iTunes Backup'.
Iphone Copy Messages To Email
2. Choose 'Recover from iOS Device' and connect iPhone to computer with the USB cable. The software will recognize your iPhone and check it in the bottom list. Click the 'Start' button to let the software analyze your iPhone.
3. After the analysis of the iPhone, Leawo iOS Data Recovery will scan the contents in your iPhone. It lists 12 categories in the left sidebar, and allows you to choose after the scan. Choose 'Messages' and then the contents will be shown in the right part. Check the text messages you need and click 'Recover' at the right bottom.
Transfer Messages To New Iphone
4. After clicking the recover button, you will see a pop-up dialog. Click 'Open' to choose a target folder to save the exported files. Then click 'Go' to start exporting text messages from iPhone to computer.