How to get your iPhone messages on your Mac, and what to do when they don't sync

Turn on Messages in iCloud on the iPhone and on the Mac, signed in to the same Apple Account, and the Mac gets your whole history, SMS included. On the Mac, Messages › Settings › iMessage › Sync Now starts it at once. A long history can take hours, so keep both devices on Wi-Fi and power; if it still doesn't arrive, go through the checklist below.

Updated November 2, 2026

Turn on Messages in iCloud

On the iPhone, open Settings › [your name] › iCloud, tap See All, then Messages in iCloud, and turn on Use on this iPhone.
On the Mac, open Messages, choose Messages › Settings, click iMessage and sign in with the same Apple Account as on the iPhone.
Select Enable Messages in iCloud, then click Sync Now.
Leave Messages open, with the Mac awake and on power, until the older conversations appear.

New green-bubble messages, from people without an iPhone, reach the Mac through your iPhone: on the iPhone, open Settings › Apps › Messages › Text Message Forwarding (Settings › Messages on older iOS) and turn on the switch next to your Mac's name.

Messages not syncing: what to check

The same Apple Account on both, in Settings on the iPhone and in Messages › Settings › iMessage on the Mac.
Send & Receive. The phone number and email addresses checked in Settings › Apps › Messages › Send & Receive on the iPhone should also be checked in Messages › Settings › iMessage on the Mac.
iCloud storage. When iCloud is full, Messages stops syncing. The iPhone shows how much is left in Settings › [your name] › iCloud.
Paused sync. On the iPhone, Messages may say that syncing with iCloud is paused, for example in Low Power Mode or with low battery. Plug it in on Wi-Fi and syncing resumes.
Keep messages. If the Mac is set to keep messages for 30 days or one year (Messages › Settings › General), older ones are deleted there. The same setting on the iPhone is in Settings › Apps › Messages › Keep Messages.
Time. A history of tens of thousands of messages and photos can take many hours, sometimes a day. If a conversation on the Mac begins later than it should, the older part hasn't arrived yet.
Sign out and in again. As a last step, in Messages › Settings › iMessage, sign out and sign back in, then click Sync Now.

Once your messages are on the Mac

Textbound opens the Messages history read-only and shows any conversation in full, then exports it as a PDF, a web page or a spreadsheet. If a thread in Textbound begins later than you expect, the Mac doesn't have the rest yet: wait for the sync, then choose File › Reload Messages (⌘R). Nothing is uploaded.

Download for Mac — free

Free for the newest 100 messages of any conversation · macOS 14 or later

Questions

How long does Messages in iCloud take to sync?

From minutes for a small history to many hours, sometimes a day, for years of messages with photos. Keep both devices on Wi-Fi and power and leave Messages open on the Mac.

Does Messages in iCloud include SMS?

Yes. The SMS and MMS on your iPhone sync to your other devices along with iMessages. Text Message Forwarding is what lets the Mac send and receive new SMS through the iPhone.

If I delete a message on the Mac, is it deleted on the iPhone?

Yes, with Messages in iCloud on, deleting a message or a conversation on one device deletes it on all of them. Export what you want to keep first.

Why are some photos missing on the Mac?

Messages can keep older attachments only in iCloud to save space. Textbound marks them “not on this Mac” instead of leaving them out; open the conversation in Messages so they download, then export again.

Can I see iPhone messages on a Windows PC?

Not through Messages in iCloud, which works only on Apple devices: a Windows PC doesn't get your message history.

Open your conversations on the Mac

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