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AiMessage - Private iMessage Analysis

Analyze your iMessage conversations using local AI with complete privacy. All processing happens on your Mac - no data ever leaves your device.

✨ Features

  • 100% Local Processing - Your messages never leave your Mac
  • AI-Powered Analysis - Sentiment analysis, topic detection, and insights (coming soon)
  • Beautiful Visualizations - Charts and statistics about your conversations
  • Privacy First - No cloud services, no data collection, no tracking

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install AiMessage

  • Download the latest release from Releases
  • Or build from source: Open AiMessage.xcodeproj in Xcode and run

2. Export Your Messages

AiMessage provides two ways to export your iMessage data:

Option A: In-App Export (Easiest)

  1. Open AiMessage
  2. Click "How to Export" in the Import tab
  3. Click "Export Messages Now"
  4. Grant permission when prompted

Option B: Manual Export

  1. Grant Terminal Full Disk Access:
    • System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → Add Terminal
  2. Run this command in Terminal:
sqlite3 ~/Library/Messages/chat.db <<EOF
.mode csv
.headers on
.output ~/Desktop/messages_export.csv
SELECT 
    datetime(date/1000000000 + 978307200, 'unixepoch', 'localtime') as timestamp,
    text,
    CASE is_from_me WHEN 1 THEN 'Me' ELSE handle.id END as sender,
    is_from_me as isFromMe,
    'chat' as chatIdentifier
FROM message
LEFT JOIN handle ON message.handle_id = handle.ROWID
WHERE text IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY date DESC;
.quit
EOF

3. Import & Analyze

  1. Drag the exported CSV file into AiMessage
  2. View statistics and insights
  3. AI analysis features coming soon!

🔒 Privacy & Security

  • Local Only: All processing happens on your Mac
  • No Network Access: AiMessage has no internet permissions
  • Your Data Stays Yours: No telemetry, no analytics, no cloud sync
  • Open Source: Verify the code yourself

📊 What You Can Analyze

  • Message count and frequency
  • Conversation participants
  • Time-based patterns
  • Sentiment trends (coming soon)
  • Topic clustering (coming soon)
  • Response time analysis (coming soon)

🛠 System Requirements

  • macOS 14.0 or later
  • Apple Silicon or Intel Mac
  • ~50MB disk space

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guide first.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details

❓ FAQ

Q: Is my data safe? A: Yes! AiMessage never sends data anywhere. All processing is local.

Q: Why do I need to grant Full Disk Access? A: macOS protects the Messages database. Terminal needs permission to read it for export.

Q: Can I analyze group chats? A: Yes! The export includes all conversations.

Q: What about attachments/images? A: Currently, only text messages are analyzed. Media support is planned.

🐛 Troubleshooting

"Permission denied" during export

  • Make sure Terminal has Full Disk Access
  • Restart Terminal after granting permission

No messages in export

  • Check that Messages app has been used on this Mac
  • Try closing Messages app before exporting

Import fails

  • Verify the CSV file isn't empty
  • Check that the file uses the correct format

📬 Support

Made with ❤️ for privacy-conscious Mac users