imessage-monitor 0.2.1

A Python library for monitoring and extracting iMessage data with real-time capabilities

iMessage Monitor

A Python library for monitoring and extracting iMessage data with real-time capabilities and beautiful terminal display.

Features

• Real-time monitoring of incoming iMessages
• Pretty-printed chat bubbles with proper left/right alignment
• Sticker and reaction support with emoji display
• ASCII art generation for image attachments (optional)
• Attachment handling including HEIC conversion
• Outbound messaging via AppleScript or Shortcuts
• Safe database access with read-only mode

Requirements

• macOS only (requires access to Messages database)
• Python 3.11+
• Full Disk Access permission for terminal/IDE

Installation

pip install imessage-monitor

or

uv add imessage-monitor

Quick Start

Real-time Monitoring

from imessage_monitor import iMessageMonitor
from imessage_monitor.display import pretty_print_bubble

def handle_message(message):
    """Handle new messages with pretty printing."""
    print(pretty_print_bubble(message, show_ascii_art=True))

# Start monitoring
monitor = iMessageMonitor()
monitor.start(message_callback=handle_message)

# Keep running (in practice, you'd run this in an async loop)
input("Press Enter to stop...")
monitor.stop()

Message Retrieval

from imessage_monitor import iMessageMonitor, to_json

# Get recent messages
monitor = iMessageMonitor()
messages = monitor.get_recent_messages(limit=50)

# Convert to JSON
json_data = to_json(messages)
print(json_data)

Sending Messages

from imessage_monitor import ImessageOutbound

# Send via AppleScript
outbound = ImessageOutbound()
success = outbound.send_message_applescript("[phone]", "Hello!")

# Send attachment
success = outbound.send_attachment_applescript("[phone]", "/path/to/file.jpg")

Display Options

The library provides three pretty-print formats:

Chat Bubbles

from imessage_monitor.display import pretty_print_bubble

# Basic bubble (no ASCII art)
print(pretty_print_bubble(message))

# With ASCII art for images
print(pretty_print_bubble(message, show_ascii_art=True))

Reactions

from imessage_monitor.display import pretty_print_reaction

print(pretty_print_reaction(message))  # Shows ❤️, 👍, 👎, etc.

Stickers

from imessage_monitor.display import pretty_print_sticker

print(pretty_print_sticker(message, show_ascii_art=True))

Data Conversion

from imessage_monitor import to_json, to_toml

# Convert messages to different formats
json_str = to_json(messages)
toml_str = to_toml(messages)

# Save to files
to_json(messages, "messages.json")
to_toml(messages, "messages.toml")

Configuration

The library uses sensible defaults but can be configured:

from imessage_monitor.config import Config

# Create custom config
config = Config.default()
config.monitoring.poll_interval_seconds = 1  # Faster polling

monitor = iMessageMonitor(config_path="path/to/config.toml")

Contact Filtering

Filter messages by specific contacts with whitelist/blacklist functionality:

from imessage_monitor import iMessageMonitor
from imessage_monitor.config import ContactFilter

# Create contact filter
contact_filter = ContactFilter(
    outbound_behavior="whitelist",  # Only include outbound messages to these contacts
    outbound_ids=["[phone]", "[e-mail]"],
    inbound_behavior="blacklist",   # Exclude inbound messages from these contacts
    inbound_ids=["[e-mail]", "[phone]"]
)

# Apply filter to message retrieval
config = Config.default()
config.contacts = contact_filter
monitor = iMessageMonitor()
filtered_messages = monitor.get_recent_messages(limit=100)

Contact filtering supports:

• Chat-level filtering: Group chats can be whitelisted/blacklisted by chat ID
• Individual-level filtering: Individual contacts filtered by phone/email
• Precedence: Chat-level filtering takes precedence over individual-level
• Directional filtering: Separate rules for inbound vs outbound messages

Date Range Filtering

Filter messages by date range (applies to manual queries only, not monitoring):

from imessage_monitor.config import DateRange
from datetime import datetime

# Custom date range
date_range = DateRange(
    start_date=datetime(2024, 1, 1),
    end_date=datetime(2024, 12, 31)
)

# Quick helpers
date_range = DateRange.from_days_back(7)    # Last 7 days
date_range = DateRange.from_hours_back(24)  # Last 24 hours

config = Config.default()
config.date_range = date_range
monitor = iMessageMonitor()
recent_messages = monitor.get_recent_messages(limit=100)

Example TOML Configuration

[apple]
chat_db_path = "~/Library/Messages/chat.db"
attachments_path = "~/Library/Messages/Attachments"
permissions_check = true

[monitoring]
poll_interval_seconds = 20 # Used as backup if enable_real_time=true
max_batch_size = 1000
enable_real_time = true

[contacts]
outbound_behavior = "whitelist" # "whitelist" | "blacklist" | "none"
outbound_ids = ["[phone]", "[e-mail]"]
inbound_behavior = "blacklist" # "whitelist" | "blacklist" | "none"  
inbound_ids = ["[e-mail]", "[phone]"]

[date_range] # Ignored when monitoring
start_date = "2024-01-01T00:00:00"
end_date = "2024-12-31T23:59:59"

[outbound]
method = "applescript"
rate_limit_per_minute = 30

Permissions

Required: Full Disk Access

1. Open System Preferences � Security & Privacy � Privacy
2. Select Full Disk Access
3. Add your terminal application (Terminal.app, iTerm2, etc.)
4. Add your IDE if running from there (VS Code, PyCharm, etc.)

Optional: Shortcuts (for outbound messaging)

For Shortcuts-based messaging, create these shortcuts in the Shortcuts app:

• "Send Message" - Not Yet Implemented
• "Send Attachment" - Not Yet Implemented

Platform Support

• macOS: Supported
• Windows/Linux: Not supported L (requires macOS Messages database)

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests: pytest
5. Submit a pull request

Troubleshooting

"Database not found" error

• Ensure you're running on macOS
• Check Full Disk Access permissions
• Verify Messages app has been used at least once

"Permission denied" error

• Add Full Disk Access for your terminal/IDE
• Restart terminal after adding permissions

ASCII art not showing

• Ensure ascii-magic is installed
• Enable with show_ascii_art=True parameter
• Check image file accessibility

Examples

See example_usage.py for a complete real-time monitoring application.

Security Note

This library accesses your Messages database in read-only mode for monitoring. It does not modify or delete any messages. Outbound messaging requires explicit function calls and uses standard macOS APIs.