An iMessage thread, read in full from a text file
iMessage has no export button. Clark accepts a plain-text file you prepare yourself — one message per line, with the sender and the time in front of it — and reads the whole conversation from there.
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Plain text in, a report out
Ejemplo ficticio
23:41, and the Last Message of the Night
Start with the night this group worked, because it did work, and it is the reason the rest of this report is not a complaint.
What can an iMessage chat analyzer read?
An iMessage chat analyzer has to work from a text file, because iMessage has no export button. Clark reads a plain-text file of the conversation — one message per line, with the sender and the time in front of it — recognises several layouts, and says so plainly when it cannot read a file rather than writing a report from a guess.
- Accepted files
- A plain-text file of the conversation that you prepare
- Layouts
- Several are recognised; one message per line reads most reliably
- Timestamps
- Relative dates are read as order, not as a calendar
- Export tool
- None. We do not ship one and put no date on it
What a pasted iMessage thread reads like
A text file from Messages is not shaped like a WhatsApp export, and that changes what the report can say:
Relative dates are the hard part
Text copied out of Messages says “Today 09:41” and “Yesterday 22:04”, not a date. Clark reads what it can from the file, and where a timestamp cannot be recovered the report works from the order of messages instead of inventing a calendar.
Tapbacks are not sentences
A “Loved” or a thumbs-up is a reaction to a message, not a reply to it. Reactions are separated from the conversation so that an acknowledgement does not read as a response.
Edited and unsent messages
Where the file records that a message was edited or withdrawn, the report treats it as what it is: a message that was changed after it was sent.
Two people, or a small group
iMessage threads are usually two people and occasionally four. Every participant is read separately, and in a small group the report says which pair is doing most of the talking.
The long gaps
A thread with someone you have known for a decade usually holds years of nothing between short bursts. Clark reports the gaps rather than averaging them away.
From a text file to a written read
01
Prepare the text file
Copy the conversation out of Messages into a text file: one message per line, with the sender and the time in front of it. The export notes describe the shape that reads most reliably.
02
Upload it in step three
The file goes through the same upload step as a WhatsApp export. If the layout is not one Clark recognises, you get an explicit error instead of a report built on a guess.
03
Read it in order
Clark reads what the file can give: message order always, calendar dates only where the file records them. Long silences are reported rather than averaged away.
iMessage chat analyzer: common questions
Where do I get the text file?+
We do not publish an iMessage exporter, and macOS has no built-in export for a whole conversation. What you need is a text file containing the conversation, one message per line with the sender and the time. The iMessage export notes linked at the bottom of this page describe the shape that reads most reliably, and say plainly what we cannot do today.
Are you going to add an exporter?+
It is not part of this build, and we are not going to put a date on it. When there is something real to use, it will appear on the iMessage export notes page.
What if my file is in the wrong format?+
You get an explicit error saying the file was not recognised. Nothing is guessed, and no report is written from a file we could not read.
Does a pasted conversation work?+
Sometimes. If you copy a thread out of Messages and paste it into a text file, the messages are there but the dates are relative. Clark reads what it can, and where the timeline is incomplete the report leans on order rather than inventing dates.
Which platform is easier right now?+
WhatsApp, today: it produces the file for you. iMessage depends on you producing the text file first. If both are available for the conversation you care about, start with WhatsApp.
Put an iMessage thread in front of Clark.
Upload the text file, read the opening and the first half of chapter one for free, then decide. One payment of $9.90 unlocks the full report.
Read an iMessage thread