How To Transfer Text Messages From Iphone To Mac Computer For Free

The following is the steps to export your iMessages and text messages using iMyFone D-Port, and it bypasses all the long steps for method one above. Here is how to selectively transfer your iPhone text messages to your MacBook Pro/Air: Step 1: Download, install and run iMyFone D-Port on your Mac or Windows computer.
To learn how to download text messages from iPhone to Mac via iCloud, follow these steps: Step 1. Go to your iPhone’s Settings Messages and turn on the option of “Messages on iCloud”. To manually take a backup of your messages, tap on the “Sync Now” button.
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.
Instructions and best steps to transfer text messages from iPhone to computer. Save iPhone text messages to any Windows PC or Mac computer. Export iPhone text messages as a PDF file and save all your SMS text messages and iMessages. Easy step-by-step video instructions for any iPhone or iPad user!

Free Program to Save Text Messages from iPhone to PC If you want a solution that is perfectly designed for this task, plus many more Apple issues, then iMyFone D-Port is a great option. As a free program to save text messages from iPhone, It's able to cater for all models of iPhone and all iOS versions (including iPhone X running iOS 11.4).

Sending and receiving messages through iPhone is, obviously, extremely convenient. In the palm of your hand you have the power to send text and media to contacts all over the world.

This convenience comes at a price - many of us have thousands of messages on our phones, taking up storage space and becoming increasingly hard to manage.

If you have a lot of messages on your device, searching through your messages, finding the conversation you're looking for and viewing it can be tricky. This guide will take you through the top three ways to view your iPhone messages directly on the big screen of your PC or Mac computer.

Quick Jump to..

1. View iPhone messages directly on your computer (PC/Mac)

Our first method explores how you can view your iPhone messages in a clear format on your PC or Mac using TouchCopy.

TouchCopy is a popular app which allows you to view and export media from iPhone to computer.

We can use this tool to easily view and search iPhone messages, export them to computer, and even print them out!

What you'll need:

You can use TouchCopy on a PC running Windows 10, 8 and 7, or Mac using Mac OSX 10.9 (OS X Mavericks) or higher.
Your iPhone.
Your USB cable to connect your iPhone to your computer.

Viewing iPhone messages in TouchCopy:

To view SMS, MMS, iMessage or WhatsApp conversations in TouchCopy, simply connect your iPhone and click the Messages section.

View the messages in a conversation by clicking it in the list.

You'll see all your messages, emojis, times/dates, attached media like photos, and contacts details. Fender hot rod deluxe serial number.

Try TouchCopy free ▼

Receive an email with a link so you can download the free trial on your computer:

Note: We respect your privacy. We won't share your Email address with anyone else, or send you spam.

Searching iPhone messages in TouchCopy:

Searching messages on iPhone can be fiddly. TouchCopy makes it easy to search through your messages on a big screen.

To do this, enter a contact's name or a key word / phrase that you are looking for into the search box and hit Enter (Return) on your keyboard.

TouchCopy will return a list of only conversations in which your keyword was mentioned. You can click a conversation to see exactly which messages contain your keyword!

Find more information about viewing and searching iPhone messages in TouchCopy >

What Next?

Using TouchCopy just to view your messages is like using an iPhone only to make calls. There's so much more you can do.

Now that you can access your messages on your computer, why not export them for safekeeping, or print them off?

2. View iPhone messages from an iTunes backup (PC/Mac)

If you don't have access to your iPhone anymore, or the texts you are trying to view have been lost or deleted, you'll need to use a backup of your iPhone.

If you backup your iPhone to your computer, your messages will be saved to the backup. The problem is, you can't actually access your messages in the backup without a tool like iBackup Extractor.

iBackup Extractor is a trusted tool which allows you to access the information stored in an iTunes backup, and even extract it to your computer!

What you'll need:

You can use iBackup Extractor on a PC running Windows 10, 8 and 7, or Mac using Mac OSX 10.9 (OS X Mavericks) or higher.
A backup of your iPhone stored on your PC or Mac.

How to View iPhone Text Messages on Computer Without Phone:

As mentioned, you don't actually need your iPhone to be able to use iBackup Extractor. This tool accesses a backup of your iPhone stored on your computer to enable you to view your backed up messages.

What's that, you need to view old iPhone messages, or ones which have been deleted from your phone? No problem, if the messages are stored in a backup, you can get to them with iBackup Extractor.

To view your messages, launch iBackup Extractor, select the backup containing your desired messages, and select the conversation you need to view its messages!

You can also search your messages for a particular contact or key phrase by entering your query in the search bar in iBackup Extractor!

Try iBackup Extractor free ▼

Receive an email with a link so you can download the free trial on your computer:

Note: We respect your privacy. We won't share your Email address with anyone else, or send you spam.

What Next?

Making new backups of your iPhone on your computer usually means overwriting the old one. This could mean that you lose the data you need.

To avoid this, you can extract the important bits you need from your backup using iBackup Extractor: Save your SMS, MMS, iMessage and WhatsApp conversations to your computer. You can export as HTML, PDF or Plain text, or print out your messages so that you have a hard copy.

3. View messages, and text from your computer
(Mac only)

Our final method is provided free by Apple and uses the Messages app on Mac computers.

'With Messages for Mac, you can send unlimited messages to any Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that uses iMessage, Apple's secure-messaging service. iPhone owners can use it for SMS and MMS messages, too.' - Apple

That's right- not only can you view your iPhone messages through your Mac, you can even use it to send messages!

The only problem here is that if this is the first time you are setting up your Mac to receive your iPhone messages, you'll only be able to view new messages sent after this point. To view older iPhone messages as well, you'll need to use Method 1 or Method 2.

What you'll need:

A Mac or MacBook with the Messages app installed.
The Apple ID details used on your iPhone.

How to View iPhone messages using Mac Messages app:

All you need to do to get your iPhone messages on your Mac is to open the Messages app on your Mac.

If your Mac uses the same Apple ID as your iPhone, you'll see your messages. If your Mac is not set up in this way, you can sign in using your Apple ID the first time that you open the Messages app on Mac.

This initial setup will only allow you to view and send iMessages. If you'd like to view and send SMS and MMS, as well as iMessages, you'll need to set up text message forwarding.

Setting up Text Message Forwarding

Ensure that your iPhone and Mac are using the same Apple ID..
- On your iPhone, go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive.
- On your Mac, open the Messages app, click Messages in the toolbar > Preferences, then click iMessage.
On your iPhone, open Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding.
Tap the switch next to your Mac's name to allow it to send and receive SMS and MMS from your iPhone.
You may receive a verification code on your Mac. If so, enter the code on your iPhone to allow this change.

The SMS and MMS you receive on your iPhone will now also forward to your Mac, if both devices are connected to the internet.

Takeaways

So, now you know the best 3 ways to view your iPhone messages on your computer.

As you can see, each method has its own unique benefits. You should now have all the knowledge you need to make an informed decision about which method is best for you.

If you are still unsure, here's what we recommend:

Use TouchCopy to view SMS, MMS, iMessage and WhatsApp messages. You can also save and print your messages.
Use iBackup Extractor to view your iPhone messages from an iPhone backup. This method is perfect if you don't have your iPhone, or if you are looking for messages which were deleted from your iPhone.
Use Mac Messages app if you want to send and receive text messages on your Mac. Not suitable for viewing older messages, or for viewing WhatsApp conversations.

Thanks for reading!

Publisher: Wide Angle Software

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

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

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.

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?