TextboundRecord
Every message on its own row with the time to the second, the sender and the service. Page numbers, a cover with the participants and time zone, and the SHA-256 of every attachment.
Your messages, exactly.
And only yours.
Turn any conversation in Messages into a clean PDF — every message with its exact time and sender, photos inline, page numbers and a fingerprint that shows nothing was changed. Textbound reads your history on your Mac, read-only. Nothing is uploaded, ever.
Free for the newest 100 messages of any conversation · macOS 14 or later
to the secondevery message's time, as Messages recorded it
SHA-256for every photo and the whole export
0bytes uploaded — no account, no cloud
How it works
- Allow it once. macOS asks you to turn on Full Disk Access — the only way any app can read the Messages history. Textbound opens it read-only and reads nothing else.
- Pick a person and the dates. The whole thread appears at once, as you know it: photos, reactions, replies, edits and unsent messages marked.
- Export. Record for lawyers, courts and records; Book for keeping. PDF, HTML or CSV, one conversation or many.
Two layouts, one exact history
Book
Bubbles as you remember them, photos large, a chapter for each month and a cover. Print it, give it, keep it.
Nothing missing
Reactions with who and when, edits with the earlier versions, unsent messages marked, replies quoted, voice messages and videos listed with their length.
One person, one thread
iMessage and SMS, phone number and email — Textbound puts a person's chats together, the way Messages shows them.
Straight from the Mac
No screenshots, no scrolling for hours, no text recognition guessing at words. Textbound reads the real history, so every word and time is exact.
HTML and CSV too
A folder that opens in any browser, or a spreadsheet with one row per message — for case files and your own archive.
Anyone can check it hasn't changed
Each export carries a fingerprint calculated from every message, time and file in it. Choose File › Verify an Export… on the Mac it came from and Textbound compares every page with Messages — and says plainly whether anything differs.
Private by design
Your conversations are the most personal thing on your Mac. Textbound opens them read-only, keeps nothing, and never sends them anywhere. No account, no analytics, no crash reports.
Free, and Pro once
Textbound
Free
- See every conversation in full
- Export the newest 100 messages of any conversation
- The Book layout as PDF
- Verify exports
Textbound Pro
$19.99 one-time
- The whole history, any dates
- Photos, videos and files inside exports
- The Record layout with SHA-256 fingerprints
- HTML and CSV
- Many conversations at once
No subscription. The free version is yours for good.
Questions
Does Textbound upload my messages?
No. Textbound reads the Messages history on your Mac, read-only, and writes the files you export where you choose. It has no account and no server for your messages, and collects nothing.
Why does it need Full Disk Access?
macOS keeps the Messages history in a protected place; Full Disk Access is the only permission that lets an app read it. Textbound opens only Messages and Contacts, and only to read.
Will my iPhone's messages be there?
Yes, when Messages in iCloud is on: your Mac then has the same history as your iPhone. In Messages on the Mac, choose Messages › Settings › iMessage and turn on Enable Messages in iCloud.
Can I use the PDF in court?
Textbound gives you an exact, complete record — times to the second, senders, attachments with their SHA-256, page numbers and a fingerprint anyone can check. Whether a court accepts it is up to the court and the rules where you are; ask your lawyer.
What if a photo isn't on my Mac?
With Optimize Storage, Messages may keep older attachments in iCloud only. Textbound marks them in the export instead of leaving them out; open the conversation in Messages to download them, and export again.
Does it work with WhatsApp?
Textbound reads Messages: iMessage, SMS and RCS on your Mac.
What does Pro cost?
$19.99, once. No subscription. The free version never expires.