iMessage Exporter - Print or Save Text Messages as PDF | Vajba

Drop chat.db here

or choose from your files

chat.db and chat.db-wal from ~/Library/Messages, both at once

Where is chat.db?

1. In Finder press ⌘ ⇧ G, paste ~/Library/Messages and press Return
2. Select chat.db and chat.db-wal together (click one, ⌘-click the other) and drag both onto this page in one go. The -wal file holds the newest messages, so without it the last few days can be missing
3. Or click the button above, press the same keys in the file dialog and pick both files there

Or open an iPhone backup

A backup made with Finder or iTunes contains the same messages database. Pick the whole backup folder and it is found automatically, attachments included. Encrypted backups are not supported: make a backup with "Encrypt local backup" unticked first.

1. On a Mac the backups live in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup, on Windows under %appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
2. Click below and choose the backup folder (the one named with long letters and numbers)

Your browser will ask to "upload" the folder. That is its standard wording for letting a page read files. Nothing is sent anywhere: this page is blocked from making network requests, and only the files you actually view are read.