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iMessage is one of the most popular ways that we communicate with others on our Macs and for good reason. Built right into the operating system, it offers attractive features that make it stand out and in my opinion is one of the best messaging apps that you can use. Sometimes we accidentally delete an iMessage thread, or we may have our iMessages set to delete automatically on their own over time. Losing an iMessage conversation with someone that we love, or if it contains important information, can be frustrating. Luckily, there are multiple ways to recover deleted iMessage lost on Mac, and we’re going to look at some of the best ones in this article.
Try to Find Deleted iMessagesBefore we look into recovering deleted iMessages, you will want to simply grab another one of your Apple devices and see if they’re there. Most Apple users have an iPhone, and by default, your messages will sync between your other Apple devices. However, they won’t delete from all of your devices if you delete messages on one of them. This means that if you deleted an iMessage thread from on your Mac, you would still be able to find the accidentally deleted iMessages by checking your iPhone. If you have enabled Messages in the Cloud, then, when you delete a message on your Mac, it will delete on your other devices as well. Keep in mind that this is turned off by default, and if you want to read more about it you can do so by going here. Where Are iMessages Stored on Mac?iMessages are stored inside the Messages app that comes installed as part of macOS. They’re locally stored and don’t require an internet connection, so if you need to reference an iMessage conversation you can do so without the internet. If you want to know the actual path for where your messages are stored, you can get to it by following the steps below. This will allow us to find our iMessage archive, and we can try to restore iMessages this way. Step 1. Launch Finder. In the navbar, find “Go” and then from the contextual menu find “Go to Folder…” and select that option. This will allow us to go to the location where our iMessages are stored on our mac. Step 2. Look for the Go option at the top and type in ~Library. Step 3. Look for the folder called Messages and open it. Once inside the Messages folder, you can view your attachments by clicking on the Attachments folder. This will allow you to view all of the pictures that have been sent between you and everyone else that you have had conversations with. Your messages are stored in the Messages folder as chat.db files, which are used by the Messages app. You can open these chat.db files with TextEdit which will allow you to view your iMessage history. Some of the information that is stored within it can be read, but a lot of it is unreadable as it’s only supposed to be read by the built-in Messages client. How to Recover Deleted iMesages on MacIf your iMessages aren’t on your other Apple devices and you can’t find them, then it’s time to look into how to recover deleted iMessages. One of these methods involves you already having a backup of your Mac. Others will allow you to get back deleted iMessages with no prior backup. If you notice that you’re not able to find an iMessage thread on your Mac, then it is best to stop using your computer right away as the messages are still there but just aren’t viewable to you. If you continue to use your computer, it could overwrite the iMessages that you’re trying to recover. Method 1: Recovering iMessages Using Data Recovery SoftwareWe’re going to use Disk Drill as I have used it to recover photos before and it did a good job at finding and recovering them. Disk Drill is a data recovery software program that allows us to recover permanently deleted iMessages even after they have been deleted from our Mac or if we don’t have a backup. The iMessages are still there, but we just can’t see them. To recover iMessages with data recovery software:
Method 2: Time Machine BackupEvery Mac comes with a built-in backup assistant called Time Machine. This will create backups of everything on your Mac and it allows you to recover old iMessages should you accidentally delete one and need it back. Time Machine backs up your Mac with 24 hour backups, daily backups over the course of the last month, and weekly backups for all previous months. This means that you can go down to the hour when it comes to recovering lost iMessages. In my opinion, this is one of the best ways to view your iMessages history on your Mac and then have the ability to recover them should something happen. Recovering from a Time Machine backup is simple and easy to do.
You must have had Time Machine setup before you noticed that the iMessages were not in the Messages app anymore. If you don’t have it set up, I would recommend setting it up for feature data recovery as this is the best method for recovering accidentally deleted iMessages. You will need an external hard drive for this which are both cheap and easy to find. Method 3: Recovering iMessages by Using Your iPhoneOur Macs do not backup to iCloud like other iOS devices. Due to this, restoring from an iCloud backup to retrieve deleted iMessages is not an option. However, if you have an iPhone, then your messages will back up via iCloud and backups are created and we can recover old iMessages this way. This will allow us to recover the iMessages if you deleted them from your Mac as they’re stored in another location. Grab your iPhone and follow the steps below to recover the deleted iMessages.
That’s it! If the messages were deleted from our Mac we can use our iPhone to get them back. ConclusionLosing iMessages on your Mac can be frustrating but there are many ways to recover them as seen above. The best practice is to have an external hard drive and backup your computer or use iCloud on your iPhone to ensure that your iMessages are always being saved. You can see though that even if you didn’t have a backup in place, there are ways to restore deleted iMessages and get them back onto your Mac. How do I undo deleting text on Mac?Do any of the following: Undo the last action: Choose Edit > Undo (from the Edit menu at the top of your screen), or press Command-Z on your keyboard. Redo the last action you undid: Choose Edit > Redo, or press Command-Shift-Z.
How do I find iMessage history on Mac?The iMessage history that powers your Messages app is stored in a database file in your computer's hard drive, in a hidden folder named Library which, in turn, is in your username folder. You can usually find your username folder on the side bar of the finder.
Can you see deleted messages from iphone on Mac?One of the best ways to get back deleted iMessages is by using the Time Machine tool. Your Mac computer has an in-build automatic backup system that allows the recovery of various types of files. You cannot pick or choose which messages to recover, as it restores the entire database.
Where are deleted messages stored on Mac?Once you have found your lost iMessages, which are usually located in the “~/Library/Messages” folder, select all the files in that folder and click the “Recover Now” button at the lower-right corner. The software will recover and restore your chosen files for you.
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