TextboundHow to save text messages from your iPhone — the whole conversation
Messages on the iPhone has no Save or Export button for a conversation. To keep a whole thread, turn on Messages in iCloud so your Mac gets the same history, then save it there as a PDF or a web page, with dates, times, senders and photos. For two or three messages, a screenshot is quicker.
Updated
Free for the newest 100 messages of any conversation · macOS 14 or later
What the iPhone can do on its own
- Keep messages forever. On the iPhone, open Settings › Apps › Messages (Settings › Messages on older iOS) and check that Keep Messages is set to Forever. Set to 30 Days or 1 Year, the iPhone deletes older messages by itself.
- Messages in iCloud. Your conversations are stored in iCloud and appear on every device signed in to the same Apple Account. That protects you if the phone is lost, but it is sync, not a copy: delete a conversation and, after up to 30 days in Recently Deleted, it is gone from every device.
- A backup. A backup of the iPhone on a computer includes your messages, and so does an iCloud Backup when Messages in iCloud is off. Apple's tools can't open a backup, though; it can only be restored to a phone.
- Screenshots. Fine for a few messages. For a long conversation they take hours, show the time only where Messages shows it, and miss whatever you scroll past.
How to save a whole conversation as a file
- On the iPhone, open Settings › [your name] › iCloud, tap See All, then Messages in iCloud, and turn on Use on this iPhone.
- On your Mac, open Messages and choose Messages › Settings › iMessage › Enable Messages in iCloud. Leave the Mac on until the history has arrived; years of messages can take many hours.
- Download Textbound and open it. Allow Full Disk Access once: it is the only way macOS lets an app read the Messages history, and Textbound only reads it.
- Pick the person or the group. Choose All Time in the dates menu, or only the months you need.
- Press Export (⌘E) and choose Book for a copy that reads like Messages; with Pro you can also choose Record, one row per message with the time to the second. Save the PDF where you keep your files.
The free version saves the newest 100 messages of any conversation as a Book PDF, with photos listed by name. Pro ($19.99 once) saves the whole history with the photos inside, and adds Record, HTML (a page that opens in any browser, photos and voice messages included) and CSV.
Which way keeps what
| Keep Messages: Forever | iCloud or a backup | Screenshots | A file from your Mac | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You can read it anywhere | Only in Messages | No, only by restoring a phone | Yes | Yes: a PDF or a web page |
| The whole conversation | Yes | Yes | Only what you capture | Yes, or the dates you choose |
| Survives deleting the thread | No | Only a backup made before, restored over the whole phone | Yes | Yes |
| Date and time of every message | By swiping left | — | Only where shown | On every message in Record and HTML |
Keep the file safe
A PDF is an ordinary file: it no longer depends on a phone, an account or a sync setting. Keep it in two places, for example in your Documents folder and on an external drive. Textbound itself keeps no copy of your messages; it reads them on your Mac, without changing anything, and writes the file only where you save it.
Questions
How do I save an entire text conversation on my iPhone?
The iPhone can't save a conversation as a file by itself. Turn on Messages in iCloud, open the conversation on a Mac with Textbound and export it: the whole thread, or the dates you pick, goes into one PDF.
Can I save text messages without a computer?
Only piece by piece: screenshots, a screen recording, or copying messages into Notes. Keep Messages set to Forever so nothing is deleted in the meantime.
How do I save text messages from my iPhone to my computer?
On a Mac: with Messages in iCloud on, the Mac has the same messages, SMS included, and Textbound saves them as PDF, HTML or CSV. Textbound doesn't connect to the iPhone and doesn't read iPhone backups.
If I delete the conversation, is the PDF gone too?
No. The PDF is a separate file and stays as it is. With Messages in iCloud, deleting a conversation on one device deletes it on all of them, so save the file first.
Are photos and videos saved too?
With Pro, photos are inside the PDF where they were sent, and videos, voice messages and files are listed with their length or size. In the HTML export they open and play. The free version lists attachments by name.
Save the conversation on your Mac
Related: export iMessages to PDF · print text messages from an iPhone · back up your iMessages · a book of your messages