iMessage store-time?

[Tanax]

Heya!

I'm wondering if anyone knows how long iMessages are stored in iCloud or wherever Apple stores them? Or if there's a limit of how many iMessages are stored per conversation?

I did a search on it but couldn't find any relevant results nor answers.

 

[aarmstrong27]

I just looked back through my iMessages on my phone to my wife (because I never delete anything) and it has saved all the way back to 10/13/11, which is when I updated to iOS 5 and iMessage became active. 🙂

So.....forever....for now.

 

[Tanax]

I just looked back through my iMessages on my phone to my wife (because I never delete anything) and it has saved all the way back to 10/13/11, which is when I updated to iOS 5 and iMessage became active. 🙂

So.....forever....for now.

Took me a while to figure out what date that was, American system is all backwards.. lol. Cheers for the help!

What is the easiest way to extract and locally save my text-message conversations from the iTunes backup-thing? I've searched some on this too but I have yet to find a "perfect" program/solution for it!

 

[Tanax]

What is the easiest way to extract and locally save my text-message conversations from the iTunes backup-thing? I've searched some on this too but I have yet to find a "perfect" program/solution for it!

No one?

 

[aarmstrong27]

No one?

I don't know of a way, but I would think someone smarter than me has figured it out and posted about it somewhere.

 

[TranceNW]

Surely iMessages are stored locally once delivered to the device aren't they?
One would assume their store time is therefore not limited :S

 

[Gav2k]

Surely iMessages are stored locally once delivered to the device aren't they?
One would assume their store time is therefore not limited :S

Yep there specific to your device/backup

 

[Christoffee]

What is the easiest way to extract and locally save my text-message conversations from the iTunes backup-thing? I've searched some on this too but I have yet to find a "perfect" program/solution for it!

Does iExplorer do this?

 

[Mliii]

I don't think there is any way to extract the iMessages directly from the backup.
You CAN get them and save them to your computer using something like PhoneView (for the Mac) and other similar programs.
And they can be stored on your iPhone indefinitely subject to the space available on your phone. I still have my messages from my old 3g.

 

[macklos]

I don't think there is any way to extract the iMessages directly from the backup.
You CAN get them and save them to your computer using something like PhoneView (for the Mac) and other similar programs.

+1 for PhoneView

iMessages/SMS, Voicemail, App Data, Music, Video, Contacts, Bookmarks, Photos...
Great Utility for iPhone/iPad!

 

[Tanax]

Oh, it's definitely possible to extract the text-messages from a local iTunes backup on your computer. They are stored in a (rather simple) table. However, I haven't found a program yet that can do this in an elegant fashion :/


But cheers for PhoneView and iExplorer, I will definitely check that out!! 😀

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For the record, btw, PhoneView seems to support reading iTunes backup of messages. From their website:

Message iTunes Backup Access:

If you back up your iPhone to your Mac using iTunes, PhoneView will allow you to view and archive messages from the iTunes backup. To access the archived data, click the "iTunes Backups" button in the PhoneView toolbar or choose View Message iTunes Backup from the PhoneView menu. Note that this feature will not work with encrypted iTunes backups, or if you back up to iCloud instead of your Mac.