You can delete these unnecessary messages later.

But if you are looking for how to undelete iMessages on Mac from a long time ago, you will recover many unwanted messages along with the ones you need. You cannot pick or choose which messages to recover, as it restores the entire database.įor newly deleted messages, it is not much of a difficulty.

Your Mac computer has an in-build automatic backup system that allows the recovery of various types of files. One of the best ways to get back deleted iMessages is by using the Time Machine tool.

Only the whole messgae thread can be recover, while data recovery from conversation's individual messages is impossible.

Deleted messages can't be restore after deleted 30 days.

Only Mac with macOS Ventura or later version allowers you to recover deleted messages.

Part 2: Restore iMessages using Time MachineĮven though you can restore both regular SMS messgaes, iMessage texts, and attachments from Messgaes app, but it do have some limitations while you retrieving data, and you can learn the following limitions before you start to recover data: Open chat.db with TextEdit to find the deleted messages.

Step 5: Your chat is in the chat.db database.

The archive folder is the mirror of your data.

The attachment folder contains the photos, audios, and video files you received in your iMessages chat.

Step 4: This folder has three subfolders: Attachment, Archive, CloudKitMetaData, and chats history file in chat.db format.

Step 3: To directly open the messages folder, open the Finder box and add the ~/Library/Messages path.

Step 2: Confirm that you have checked the option, 'Save history when conversations are closed.' If checked, your iMessages will be in ~/Library/Messages by default.

Go to the iMessage app, and then go to Preferences > General.

Step 1: iMessage app allows you to choose where to store iMessages on Mac.

Your best bet is to go to the Messages folder to recover your chat history and restore deleted iMessages. If the operating system is released after Sierra OS, then you need to see if iMessages are stored on the hard drive. However, if you are using macOS High Sierra/Mojave/Catalina, you can decide whether you want to save iMessages on iCloud or the hard drive. It was adjusted to fit your preferences because of concerns regarding space usage. By 2016, all iMessages on macOS Sierra and earlier were, by default, stored on the hard drive.

To restore deleted iMessages, you first need to know where iMessages stored on Mac. Part 5: Recover iMessages on Mac with 4DDiG Even without Backup Part 1: Where are iMessages stored on Mac?

How to get deleted messages back on mac