Part 1: 3 method to extract and view iPhone messages in Windows or Mac OS
How to view text messages of iPhone on pc or Mac as a text? If you use iPhone 4/3GS, the main interface of the app will be like this. Step 2: Scan lost data from your iPhone. For iPhone 7 (Plus)/SE/6S Plus/6S/6 Plus/6/5S/5C/5/4S, you can click the 'Start Scan' button to scan your iPhone.
In order to view iPhone messages on computer, we need a tool to scan and export the messages from our device to a computer. And here I recommend you dr.fone - Recover (iOS) to do it for you. This software provide three way for you to extract and export your data from your device, iTunes backup and iCloud backup to computer, which will be very flexible and convenient for us to view iPhone messages on PC or Mac. Actually, expcept messages, the program can also extract and export iPhone notes, photos, contacts, videos, music, call log and more.
dr.fone - Recover (iOS)
3 ways to export and view messages on on PC or Mac!
- Free to view iPhone messages on your computer.
- Scan and selectively export iPhone data directly from iPhone, iPad and iPod.
- Extract and export data from iTunes and iCloud backup to your computer.
- Supports all models of iPhone, iPad and iPod.
- Recover data lost due to deletion, device loss, jailbreak, iOS upgrade,etc.
From the above introduction we can know that dr.fone - Recover (iOS) allows us to extract our messages from iPhone, iTunes backup and iCloud backup and export a readable file to our computer. Now, let's check the 3 method:
1.1 Scan from iPhone to read text messages in Windows/Mac OS for free
Step 1. Run the program and connect your iPhone
Run the program on your computer after downloading and installing it, and then connect your iPhone to the computer. When your device is recognized, just click on 'Recover' the main window of the program. Click on 'Recover from iOS Device'
To view messages on your iPhone, you can check 'Messages & Attachments'. This will save you time for scanning. If you want to check all contents on your iPhone at the same time, you can choose to check the items all. Then click 'Start Scan' to begin.
Step 2. Scan and view iPhone messages on PC for free
When the scan finishes, a scan result as follows will appear. You can preview all data in it. Choose messages and you can view the items one by one. Check the items you want and click 'Recover to Computer'. You can save them on your computer. The saved file is a kind of HTML file, which allows you to view effortlessly on your Windows computer or Mac.
If you're a Mac user, please download the Mac version of dr.fone toolkit, and take the similar steps as above. You can also view iPhone messages on Mac, in a file of HTML.
1.2 Free to view iPhone messages from iCloud Backup on your computer
Here let's look how to view iPhone messages from iCloud backup files.
Step 1. Sign in your iCloud account
Switch to 'Recover from iCloud Backup File' on the left side menu and then you'll be at the entrance of iCloud. Enter your iCloud account and get into it. Your account is 100% safe here. Wondershare never keep any record of your account or leak it to others.
Step 2. Download and extract your iCloud backup file
Once you're in, you will see a list of all your backup files in the account. Choose the one for your iPhone and click to download it. It will take you some time. When the downloading is complete, you can begin the extracting, and then wait for a second.
Step 3. View your iPhone messages in iCloud backup for free
In the scanning result, you can choose anything you want to view. Click on the 'Messages' and view the content in detail on the right. After viewing, you can choose to save it to your computer or device by clicking on 'Recover to Computer' if you have a need.
1.3 Free to view iPhone SMS from iTunes Backup on your computer
As we all know, iTunes backup are not readable on computer. That is to say, we can't directly view iTunes backup. In this case, we can use dr.fone - Recover (iOS) to extract and view iPhone messages in iTunes backup on your computer. Here let's see how it works:
Step 1. Choose to extract your iTunes backup file
Switch to 'Recover from iTunes Backup File' for viewing iPhone messages in iTunes backup files. Choose the iTunes backup file for your iPhone and click 'Start Scan'. Then the program will start extracting your iTunes backup files automatically.
Step 2. Free to view iPhone messages one by one
You can start viewing the content since the scanning begins. Choose 'Messages' and you can view the whole content for free. Clicking on the 'Recover to Computer' button, you can save the messages to your iPhone or to your computer as an HTML file for better reading or printing.
Almost all mobile phone users have a chat app installed on their device. For iPhone users, the iMessage is built-in app comes with the iOS system which you can use to send free messages. However it is far from the best one. WhatsApp is now on the top of the must-have mobile phone messaging app list. It is so easy to use and with lots of useful features. For instance, you can send text messages, voice messages, make free calls, send photos, videos, and location info to your family and friends. Sometimes the files we received through WhatsApp could be very important and we may lose them unexpectedly. Better safe than sorry. We recommend you create backups of your Whatsapp chat history from time to time. You can back up WhatsApp to iCloud and host your chat history on the cloud hosting server with Apple, you can also choose to transfer messages and files from Whatsapp on iPhone to your computer. Windows users, can refer to this step-by-step tutorial to backup WhatsApp chat history from iPhone to PC. In this post, we will focus on iPhone to Mac WhatsApp chats backup.
How to back up WhatsApp from iPhone to Mac?
We will not show you how to back up WhatsApp data to computer using iTunes, which is difficult to use and the backup files are not accessible using third party software. Instead this iPhone data backup tool is highly recommended. This software was firstly designed to help iPhone users get back their lost or deleted data. More and more tools and features have been added with the constant development. Now the iPhone WhatsApp transfer, backup & restore tool can be found in it. You can download it now below.
Run this software on your Mac after installation. You will see various iPhone tools from its home screen. To transfer WhatsApp chats to computer, you need to click the Backup & Restore. Then click WhatsApp Backup & Restore from the left pane.
Find and click Backup WhatsApp Messages, connect iPhone to computer via USB if not yet, you will see a screen like below.
Click on the Backup button to instantly back up WhatsApp chats, messages, photos, videos and more from iPhone to Mac.
When this iPhone WhatsApp backup for Mac has finished transferring your WhatsApp data from iPhone to Mac, you can view the backup contents and restore any item from this backup file. Click View Backup File button to preview data saved in the backup file. You can then export selected data to Mac, restore WhatsApp backup from Mac to iPhone or even restore iPhone WhatsApp backup to an Android device.
Backup WhatsApp messages from iPhone to computer – video demo
WhatsApp backup & restore FAQs
Can I save WhatsApp audios, music and recordings from iPhone?
Yes, this iPhone WhatsApp backup solution can also transfer audios, music, voice messages and recordings from iPhone to computer. You can find more details from this guide export audios and music from iPhone to computer.
Can I back up WhatsApp media files like photos and videos?
Yes, your photos and videos will be exported from iPhone to Mac along with your WhatsApp chat history and other files receive through WhatsApp.
How to find the WhatsApp backup files on computer?
If you like to find, open, transfer or edit the WhatsApp files or attachments on computer, you can go to Backup & Restore >> WhatsApp Backup & Restore >> Backup WhatsApp Messages, then click View Backup History, find the WhatsApp file in the list if you have create multiple backups. Click View, then preview, select and export data from the backup file to your Mac. Your files, like photos, videos, music will be saved as their original file format on Mac, you can open, view and edit them using corresponding software on computer. For instance, you can open the WhatsApp images using Preview on Mac, edit WhatsApp videos using iMovies on Mac, just to name a few. The WhatsApp messages will be save as HTML file, so you can open and view them using any web browser on your Mac, like Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc.
Why I can’t export WhatsApp data from backup file on Mac?
You will need to register this software using a license name and code first. The free trial version allows users to back up WhatsApp to computer and view WhatsApp backups on Mac. But in order to export Whatsapp backup to computer, you need to buy the full version.
Can I restore WhatsApp backup to iPhone?
Yes. But this feature is for registered users only. You can buy a license to get the license code, you can then register the software with the code to get full version.
What if I deleted WhatsApp messages without backups?
In this case, you will need to use this iPhone data recovery to scan your iPhone internal storage and recover deleted WhatsApp messages from iPhone directly. Due to the complexity of data recovery, the sooner you recover data, the higher chance you can get them back. For those WhatsApp files deleted long time ago, the chance to retrieve them is slim.
Can I backup SMS as well?
This WhatsApp chats transfer and backup tool comes with the iPhone data backup and restore program. It does not only backup your WhatsApp chat history, but also text messages and chat history via other third party messengers, like Viber, Line, Kik.
Still have questions about WhatsApp backup & restore? Leave us a message in the comment section below.