Unbubble: Export Your iPhone Messages to PDF, CSV or HTML, Free

How do I export iMessages to PDF or CSV for free?

Use Unbubble, a free and open-source exporter. On a Windows 10 or 11 PC, install Unbubble, plug in your unlocked iPhone and choose the conversations to save. Unbubble copies only Messages and Contacts off the phone, rebuilds each thread with its dates, senders, photos, reactions and edits, and saves it as a PDF per conversation, CSV, JSON or a browsable offline HTML archive. It needs no full backup, no account and no paid licence, and nothing is uploaded unless you choose to.

• Free with no message limit: the app is GPL-licensed and the source is public on GitHub.
• No full backup: photos, apps and everything else are discarded as they arrive, so you do not need 100 GB of free space.
• Faithful threads: SMS and iMessage with the same person merged, group names, tapbacks, inline replies, edit history and unsent messages.

Compare before you pay

How does Unbubble compare with iMazing, Decipher TextMessage and Mac Print?

Most guides to exporting iPhone texts end at a paid desktop app. These are the routes people actually use, compared on what they cost and what they keep. Competitor details come from each vendor’s own page, checked on 1 November 2026; confirm current terms before you buy anything.

On a Windows PC

How do you export iPhone messages to a PC with Unbubble?

Windows can only talk to an iPhone through Apple’s own mobile device driver. Unbubble installs that driver for you, then streams the Messages database off the phone and throws away everything else as it arrives.

The installer is not yet code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may show “Windows protected your PC” the first time. Choose More info, confirm the file came from the official GitHub release, then Run anyway. Each release publishes SHA256.txt so you can verify the download.

1. Download Unbubble-Setup.exe from the latest Unbubble release on GitHub. It needs Windows 10 (version 1809) or Windows 11 and installs for your user account, without administrator rights.
2. Open Unbubble. If Apple’s iPhone driver is missing, approve the single Windows permission prompt and Unbubble installs Apple Mobile Device Support for you. No iTunes is needed.
3. Connect your iPhone with a cable, unlock it and tap Trust on the phone.
4. Start the export. If your iPhone has Encrypt local backup turned on, enter that password once; it stays on your PC.
5. Wait for the first read. It takes about as long as an iPhone backup, because iOS sends everything once and Unbubble keeps only Messages and Contacts. Later exports are incremental and much faster.
6. Pick the conversations and the formats you want: an offline HTML archive, a PDF per conversation, CSV or JSON. Unbubble saves to your Documents folder and warns you before saving into OneDrive.

On an iPhone, with no computer

Can I export a text conversation on my iPhone without a computer?

Yes, on iOS 27 or later. Apple does not let apps read Messages, but it does let a Shortcut you approve. The Unbubble iPhone app pairs with the Unbubble Export shortcut: the shortcut reads Messages in date order, the app keeps only the conversation you picked, and everything else is dropped as it arrives. Nothing leaves the phone. The iPhone app has been submitted to the App Store; its source and privacy policy are already public on GitHub.

What does Unbubble keep from each conversation?

An export is only useful if it matches what you saw on the phone. Unbubble rebuilds each thread from the Messages database rather than from screenshots, so it keeps details that a print-to-PDF or a copy-paste loses.

Pick the file for the job

Which export format should you choose?

Every format comes from the same rebuilt conversation, so you can save more than one.

Can I use exported text messages for court or a legal matter?

Unbubble gives you a complete, dated record you control: every message with its sender and timestamp, and on iPhone a PDF that carries a SHA-256 fingerprint of its contents so later changes can be detected. Unbubble does not certify a record or decide whether it is admissible. Rules differ by court and jurisdiction, so ask your attorney or the court what format and authentication they require before you rely on any export.

No cable, no backup

Can Unbubble turn a screen recording into a conversation?

Yes. Screen-record a thread in Messages while you scroll back through it, then drop the video into Unbubble on your PC or pick it from the iPhone’s camera roll. Unbubble reads every message, who sent it and the time header above it with on-device OCR, and saves it like any other export. Times come from Messages’ own headers, so messages under one header share its time and anything above the first header is undated. Tapbacks are not captured, and photos and emoji become markers such as [Photo] and [Emoji].

Is Unbubble private?

Unbubble is built so that your messages stay with you unless you decide otherwise.

• No account, no analytics and no telemetry, in the Windows app or the iPhone app.
• Exports are saved to your own PC or phone. On Windows, Unbubble defaults to your Documents folder and warns before saving into OneDrive, which would upload your messages to the cloud.
• Your encrypted-backup password, if you have one, is used on your PC and never leaves it.
• Upload to Grey Mirror is optional and happens one conversation at a time, only when you choose it.
• The code is public under the GPL-3.0 (app) and MIT (web interface and relay) licences, so anyone can check what it does.

After the export

What can a complete exported conversation tell you?

Once a whole conversation is on your computer, you can read it as a timeline instead of a memory. If you want a second reading, Unbubble can send one conversation to Grey Mirror, which measures the history you supply: who reaches out first, how reply timing changed, and what followed each argument. That step is optional; the export is yours either way.

What can Unbubble not do?

These limits come from iOS and from how the phone stores messages.

• The Windows app needs a Windows 10 (1809) or Windows 11 PC and a cable. On a Mac, use the Grey Mirror Mac app or Messages’ Print to PDF.
• The first Windows export takes about as long as an iPhone backup; later ones are incremental.
• Attachments that iOS offloaded to iCloud are not on the phone, so they are listed but cannot be exported.
• The iPhone app’s export needs iOS 27 or later for now: on iOS 26 its shortcut stops with an error as soon as you pick a conversation.
• A screen recording only contains what was on screen while you scrolled.
• It cannot recover messages that were deleted from the phone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Grey Mirror guides

• Export an iMessage conversation
• Analyze iPhone messages without exporting
• Export messages from any app
• iMessage analyzer
• Mirror Veil redaction tool
• Privacy and deletion
• Does double texting mean I am chasing