How to View Old iMessages on iPhone, iOS, or Mac

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Create an archive, search old messages, & recover deleted texts

Written by Megaera Lorenz, PhD

Last Updated: December 9, 2025 Fact Checked

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Archiving Your Messages

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Searching for Specific Messages

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Recovering Old Messages

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Adjusting Your Messages Settings

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Video

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Tips

While you can read back through your old texts in the Apple Messages app, all that endless scrolling is a huge pain. Fortunately, there are easier ways to see your messaging history! If you have a Mac, you can export a conversation to a searchable PDF doc from within the Messages app. You can also use the Search function in Messages on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to search your message history by keyword or even date. Read on to learn how! We’ll also give you tips on how to recover deleted or missing messages and prevent your texts from being automatically deleted.

The Best Ways to Find and View Old iMessages

To create a browsable document from a conversation, export it to PDF in the Messages app on a Mac. You’ll need to buy a third-party app to do this in Windows.
You can find specific messages by keyword, contact name, or date by using the search function in Messages.
Recover deleted messages after 30 days in the Messages app. You might also be able to restore them from a backup.

Section 1 of 4:

Archiving Your Messages

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1
Export a conversation to PDF on Mac. If you have a Mac, the simplest way to browse a lengthy text conversation is to export it to PDF. You can do this in just a few clicks from the Messages app.
- Launch the Messages app.
  - If you’ve never used iMessage on your Mac, you’ll need to set it up now. Follow these instructions from Apple to sync iMessages between your Mac and your iPhone. The easiest way to do this is to enable iMessage in iCloud across all your connected devices.
  - Note that even if you have your iMessages synced to iCloud, there’s no way to view them in a web browser. You must access them through the Messages app.
- In the left-hand sidebar, open the conversation you want to save as a PDF.
- Select File > Print… at the top of the screen.
- In the bottom left corner of the Print menu, click the button that says PDF (if this button says something other than “PDF,” click the drop-down on the right and select Save as PDF…).
- Enter a file name and save location for the conversation, then click Save.
- Open the saved PDF. By default, it should open in Preview. You can scroll through the document or search by specific keywords. You’ll be able to see dates and timestamps, just like when you view your messages in the Messages app.
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Use a third-party app for Windows. Unfortunately, the options for doing this in Windows are more limited. You’ll need a third-party app that allows you to access and export iMessages on your PC. While there are a number of apps that do this, most require a paid subscription. The most popular option is iMazing, which costs about $30 for a year for one device. iExplorer offers similar features.
- While the exact procedure varies depending on the app you’re using, these apps typically work by allowing you to connect your iPhone to your computer with a USB cable, then accessing your data through the desktop app interface.
- Navigate to the Messages section of the app, then select the option to export your messages as a PDF (or your preferred format, such as XLS or TXT).
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There are several apps in the App Store that claim they can export your messages as PDFs. While these apps aren’t necessarily harmful, they tend to be pretty limited in what they can actually do. Most of them simply take screenshots of your messages, which you can then stitch into multi-page PDFs.

Section 2 of 4:

Searching for Specific Messages

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If you’re trying to find a specific message in your chat history, you might be able to find it using the search function. Open Messages on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
On iPhone or iPad, it’s at the bottom of the screen in the main Messages menu. On a Mac, you’ll find it at the top of the left-hand menu bar.
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Type in a keyword, name, or date. For instance, if you’re looking for a conversation about a grocery order, you could type in groceries. All relevant results will pop up, organized by category (such as Messages and Links). You can also search for a person in your contacts, or even a date!
- Typing in april will bring up messages, links, and media from April of every year in your history. You can also search for a specific day (e.g., 4/13/25).

Section 3 of 4:

Recovering Old Messages

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Restore recently deleted texts in the Messages app. If you deleted a text, attachment, or conversation and you want to get it back, you have 30 days to recover it. Here’s how to do it:^{[1]
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- Open Messages and tap the icon that looks like a stack of increasingly narrow lines at the top right corner.
- Select Recently Deleted.
- Tap Recover All, or select the conversation(s) you want to recover and tap Recover.
- Find your recovered texts in the main Messages menu.
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Recover old texts from a backup. If you have the contents of your iPhone backed up to your computer or iCloud, you may be able to restore missing messages from a backup. Note that restoring your messages from iCloud works differently depending on whether or not you have Messages in iCloud enabled.^{[2]
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- If Messages in iCloud is enabled, your messages are automatically synced across all your Apple devices that are logged into the same Apple Account and have Messages in iCloud toggled on. If there’s a lag, you can force messages to sync by going to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Messages (under Saved to iCloud) > Sync Now.
- If Messages in iCloud is NOT enabled, any texts physically stored on your iPhone or other Apple device might be saved in your most recent computer or iCloud backup. Restore from a backup as a last resort, since this involves erasing your device and overriding your most recent data.
  - To restore from iCloud:
    - Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone (or iPad) > Erase All Content and Settings. Follow the prompts to confirm that you want to erase your device.
    - When your device is done erasing, it should boot up to a Hello screen. Follow the prompts until you reach the Transfer Your Apps & Data screen, then select From iCloud Backup.^{[3]
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    - Select the most recent backup that you think might contain your missing texts. Follow the prompts to finish restoring your iPhone.
  - To restore from a backup on your computer:^{[4]
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    - Open Finder on a Mac, or open the Apple Devices app or iTunes on a Windows computer.
    - Plug your iPhone or iPad into your computer with a USB cable. You might be prompted to enter your device passcode and/or trust the computer.
    - Locate your iPhone or iPad in the menu bar in Finder, Apple Devices, or iTunes. Click on it.
    - Select the Restore Backup option.
    - Choose the most recent backup that you think might contain your missing messages. Enter the correct password if your backup is encrypted.
    - Click Restore. Wait for the backup process to complete.

Section 4 of 4:

Adjusting Your Messages Settings

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If your old iMessages automatically disappear after a certain time, you can adjust your settings to keep them forever. This won’t help you recover messages that have already been deleted, but it will keep new messages from being deleted in the future. Open Settings on your Apple device.
It’s at the bottom of the Settings menu. If you’re using an old version of iOS, you might be able to skip this step.
It’s in the M section of the Apps menu (or in the main Settings menu in some older versions of iOS).
It’s under the Message History header. You’ll need to scroll down to find it.
The options are 30 Days, 1 Year, and Forever. If you don’t want your messages to be automatically deleted, choose Forever.

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While Digital Touch messages don't necessarily expire, you will have to tap them to view them again.

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Restoring from a previous backup means that you'll lose some of your more recent data.

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If you have Messages in iCloud enabled, deleting a message or conversation on one device will delete it from all connected devices and the cloud.

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Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

If you don't see your past messages on one device, check a different device where you're also logged in to your Apple ID. The messages may still be visible there.
Take screenshots or download important messages that you don't want to lose so you always have a backup.

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