Is there a way to backup iMessage not on iCloud

[satchmo]

Running low on iCloud storage and one of the main culprits seems to be the years of accumulated iMessage chats.

Is there a way to download them off of iCloud and onto say Google Drive or even onto my Mac?

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Running low on iCloud storage and one of the main culprits seems to be the years of accumulated iMessage chats.

Is there a way to download them off of iCloud and onto say Google Drive or even onto my Mac?

You can export them and optionally save all the attachments using a 3rd party app. I've done this with PhoneView, but they have discontinued support and are recommending using iMazing going forward, which I know has a lot of fans.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Delete (some of) them? Do you need a permanent, long record of every text "conversation"?

If for some reason you do, open iMessages on a Mac, select one of these chats, File (menu), Print, and either print to paper or PDF file. Then delete that chat and you'll have a permanent record. If PDF, Time Machine- assuming you are using it- will back it up too, so you'll have a permanent record and a backup.

I prune my own text conversations all the time. Sometimes, I'll delete one after sending a response knowing when they reply, they'll basically create a new one. This keeps Messages iCloud allocations very small.

Another option: pay Apple an ongoing subscription for more iCloud space.

 

[satchmo]

Delete (some of) them? Do you need a permanent, long record of every text "conversation"?

If for some reason you do, open iMessages on a Mac, select one of these chats, File (menu), Print, and either print to paper or PDF file. Then delete that chat and you'll have a permanent record. If PDF, Time Machine- assuming you are using it- will back it up too, so you'll have a permanent record and a backup.

I prune my own text conversations all the time. Sometimes, I'll delete one after sending a response knowing when they reply, they'll basically create a new one. This keeps Messages iCloud allocations very small.

Another option: pay Apple an ongoing subscription for more iCloud space.

Yeah, I don't really need some of the conversations, but didn't want to go through years of editing what to keep and what to delete.

I thought there might be a more elegant solution where I could export into some format I could re-open in iMessage. But I'll probably just go the PDF route for expediency.

Thanks.

edit: For some reason PDFs don't capture many of the images posted.

You can export them and optionally save all the attachments using a 3rd party app. I've done this with PhoneView, but they have discontinued support and are recommending using iMazing going forward, which I know has a lot of fans.

Thanks, iMazing looks interesting, but for this task, I didn't want to spend anything.

 

[ignatius345]

Anybody know of an easy way to prune old iMessage attachments? I have plenty of iCloud storage (2 TB) but I still don't need to be wasting it on old GIFs someone sent me 8 years ago.

 

[jz0309]

Anybody know of an easy way to prune old iMessage attachments? I have plenty of iCloud storage (2 TB) but I still don't need to be wasting it on old GIFs someone sent me 8 years ago.

Iphone, Settings, General, iPhone storage, messages
you can go to photos or videos or GIFs and delete, individual for all I know only, so might be tedious ...