Active4 months ago
Apple’s iMessage service is a nice alternative to regular SMS text messages. It is convenient for sending or receiving messages from an iPad, iPod touch, or a Mac computer that does not support SMS text messaging. It will not re-sync if you remove the iMessage. I really don't use iMessages on my iPhone enough to even try 'Load earlier Messages'. If you have synced (Backup) the iPhone onto the Mac using iTunes it is apparently possible to extract the messages from the Backup. Home > PhoneRescue > PhoneRescue for iOS > How to Search Text Messages/iMessages on iPhone with 3 Simple Ways We send and receive messages everyday with the Messages App on the iPhone. Like many of us, you may find that it is not easy to search for a specific text among a pile of messages on your iPhone. Aug 16, 2018 Solution 1: Using spotlight to search iPhone messages. The spotlight is a powerful built-in feature launched in iOS 11 that allows all iPhone users to search text messages/iMessages or even anything and anywhere from the device. It is a quick way to find any phone features like apps, contacts, messages, notes, and anything you can think of.
I have a 5-year conversation going on with my wife on iMessage.
Every once in a while I want to find something like a restaurant she messaged me about.
I want to search for the word 'restaurant' and find ALL the times she used that word, meaning only within HER messages.
How can I do that?
I know about the universal iMessage search, but that's not what I'm after. It shows me only 1 instance of the word 'restaurant,' not all of them.
bjbk7,93422 gold badges1717 silver badges4949 bronze badges
Andrew WarnerAndrew Warner41255 gold badges1010 silver badges3030 bronze badges
3 Answers
The archive of all the messages is in ~/Library/Messages/chat.db. It's a SQLite database. There are some SQLite viewers that will make it fairly easy to sort this data and either allow you to search it or selectively export some of it to CSV. Alternately if you search for 'sqlite to csv' you'll find some more information on exporting it. Unfortunately this is a big weakness of iMessage.
Todd DabneyTodd Dabney
- Open Messages on Mac
- Type term into search bar (also accessible using CMD+F)
- Click on the desired conversation you want to search in
- You'll see the first message (chronologically) that contained the word displayed in a faded color
- Press CMD+G to see the next occurrence and shift+CMD+G to see the previous one.
--
Keyboard shortcuts are shown in the menubar: Edit → Find
This functionality should work across most apps, not just Messages.
JBallinJBallin
Edit => Find => Find Next & Edit => Find => Find Previous are greyed out for me so those approaches aren't options.
I simply opened the conversation in a separate window and kept scrolling up rapidly to load all of the old chats.
You can press
command
+ A to select the entire chat, press command
+ C to copy it to the clipboard, and then paste the chat in TextEdit (or another text editor). Any text editor will provide better search support than iMessage - just press command
+ F. PowersPowers
You must log in to answer this question.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged macosiosmessages .
There are several scenarios that can cause messages not to be delivered. This article addresses two such issues.
1. You turned off iMessage with the intent of receiving all messages as SMS text messages and now you are not receiving messages from iPhone users.
2. You have recently switched from an iPhone to some other phone and are not receiving text messages from iPhone users. For this situation, you will be specifically interested in the section at the bottom of this article titled “What If I No Longer Have My iPhone” or go directly to the Apple website to deregister your phone number from iMessage.
If iMessage stopped working and you did not make any changes to the iMessage settings, you may want to read this article about not receiving iMessages.
Why Would I Turn Off iMessage?
Apple’s iMessage service is a nice alternative to regular SMS text messages. It is convenient for sending or receiving messages from an iPad, iPod touch, or a Mac computer that does not support SMS text messaging. When an iMessage is sent to someone with multiple devices, the message is delivered to all devices. However, because iMessage can use cellular data when not connected to Wi-Fi, some folks may opt not to use it on the iPhone.
An iMessage is sent using either Wi-Fi or cellular data. When a Wi-Fi network is available, the iMessage is sent over the Wi-Fi connection. When a Wi-Fi network is not available, the iMessage is sent using cellular data. If you regularly approach the monthly limit of your data plan, you may try turning off iMessage to save some cellular data usage.
If you open the Settings app on your iPhone, select Messages, and set the iMessage slider to the off position, you will no longer send or receive iMessages on the iPhone. However, depending on your situation, you may end up not receiving text messages from iPhone users. Additionally, if you have multiple Apple devices, the iMessages will still be delivered to your other devices. This is usually not desirable because you want messages sent to your phone number to be delivered to your iPhone.
Imessage On Mac Setup
Understanding iMessage
To understand what is happening, let’s take a closer look at iMessage. The iMessages are delivered based on your Apple ID, not your phone number. When you initially setup an Apple device, your Apple ID is automatically signed in to the Messages app. When your device is an iPhone, your phone number becomes associated with your Apple ID.
When someone with an iPhone sends a message to your phone number, their Messages app communicates with Apple’s servers and finds your phone number associated with an Apple ID. The sender’s Messages app will then send the message as an iMessage. When someone with an iPhone sends a message to someone without an iPhone, the Messages app finds no associated Apple ID and the message is sent as an SMS text message.
Turning Off iMessage
Turning off the iMessage slider on your iPhone will stop iMessages from being delivered to your iPhone. However, if you have multiple Apple devices, it does not stop iMessages from being sent to your Apple ID. Consider the situation where someone has both an iPhone and an iPad. Turning off the iMessage slider on one device will still allow iMessages to be received on the other device.
Even with the iMessage slider turned off, your phone number is still associated with your Apple ID. Therefore, when other iPhone users send a message to you, it is sent as an iMessage to your Apple ID. But, since the slider is turned off, the message is not delivered to your iPhone.
Receive All Messages as SMS Text Messages
![Speech Speech](/uploads/1/2/6/8/126888713/337752250.jpg)
If you want to turn off iMessage and have all messages delivered to your iPhone as SMS text messages, you need to break the association between your phone number and your Apple ID. Simply turning off the iMessage slider does not break the association.
To disassociate your phone number from your Apple ID, first make sure iMessage is completely turned off on your iPhone. Do this by opening the Settings app and selecting Messages -> Send & Receive. Tap your Apple ID at the top of the window and select Sign Out.
Once you are signed out, make sure the iMessage slider is set to the off position (no green is visible on the slider).
This will typically disassociate your phone number from your Apple ID. However, if the problem still persists, go to https://appleid.apple.com and change your Apple ID password. By changing your Apple ID password, you effectively deauthorize your iPhone from using Apple’s services until it can re-authenticate with the correct password. With the iMessage service deauthorized to your iPhone, Apple’s servers will no longer associate your phone number to your Apple ID.
After changing your password, you will need to sign back in to services like the iTunes & App Store and iCloud. On the iPhone, go to:
Settings -> iTunes & App Store
Settings -> iCloud.
For each service, enter your Apple ID and password when requested.
Do not sign in with your Apple ID in Settings -> Messages and do not turn on the iMessage slider on your iPhone. Doing so would re-associate your phone number with your Apple ID.
Now, when someone with an iPhone sends a message to your phone number, the Messages app will not find an associated Apple ID and the message will be sent as an SMS text message through your cellular provider. Regular texting rates will apply.
Search Imessage On Mac For Text Size
What If I No Longer Have My iPhone?
If you decided to switch from an iPhone to some other brand of phone and you are not receiving text messages from iPhone users, it is likely you didn’t sign out of iMessage before you made the switch. In this situation, the messages from iPhone users are still being sent to your iMessage account, but you can only receive iMessages on an Apple device.
To resolve the issue, go to https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage and follow the instructions to deregister your phone number from iMessage.
If you have additional questions about sending and receiving messages, please see my other articles discussing text messages and iMessages.
Sign Up for the Free iAnswerGuy Monthly Newsletter