imessage-reader 0.2.0

Fetch recipients and chat messages from the chat.db database.

imessage_reader

This is a forensic tool written in Python 3. Use this tool to fetch the content (phone numbers, email addresses, messages and the account) from the chat.db database file on macOS (version 10.14 or above).

The following information is currently being read from the database:

• user id (sender's phone number or email address)
• message
• date and time
• service (iMessage or SMS)
• account (recipient account)

Background

Received messages (iMessage or SMS) and attachments will be saved in "~/Library/Messages". This directory contains a "chat.db" file (SQLite3) with two tables of interest: handle and message. The handle table contains the recipients (email address or phone number). The received messages are in the message table.

Note

Since the iMessage database is only available under macOS, it makes no sense to use this tool under Windows or Linux.

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• openpyxl

To run tests install pytest:

pip3 install pytest

Install

pip3 install imessage_reader

Usage (CLI)

Start the program with:

imessage_reader

This will show you all users and messages.

Use

imessage_reader -e

to create an Excel file containing users, messages, date and service (SMS or iMessage). The file will be stored in the Desktop folder.

Use

imessage_reader -s

to create a SQLite3 database containing users, messages, date and service (SMS or iMessage). The file will be stored in the Desktop folder.

Note: You need access to the Library folder in order to read the iMessage database file ("chat.db"). You can add access (for Terminal or iTerm) in

> System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access

Usage (import module)

To get the messages use following code:

from imessage_reader import fetch_data

# Create a FetchData instance
fd = fetch_data.FetchData()

# Store messages in my_data
# This is a list of tuples containing user id, message and service.
# service -> iMessage or SMS
my_data = fd.get_messages()
print(my_data)

ToDo

• Get the date of messages
• Fetch the date of received messages.
• Show a list of all known recipients.
• Did the user receive the message via SMS or via iMessage?
• Create SQLite3 database.
• Show attachments.
• Add more tests.

Changelog

see CHANGELOG.rst