Download Data from Apple

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Download Data from Apple

Thanks to Gary at www.macmost.com for this insight. Consider subscribing to his channel or supporting through Patreon.

I learned that Apple has a special website where you can download your data. Go to www.privacy.apple.com and log in with your Apple credentials. Here you can find out a number of things such as what data Apple collects from you, get a copy or transfer your data, correct data and so on.

Some of your data that you might wish to download and save includes:

            Apple Media Services Info including music and books

            AppleCare support history

            iCloud Bookmarks and reading list

            iCloud Calendar, Reminders, Contacts and Notes

            Map Data

            Wallet Activity

            iCloud drive

            iCloud Mail

            iCloud photos

Some of the files could be quite large and take time to download. Downloading will available within seven days but usually occurs sooner.

As a related topic, although iMessage are not available for direct download to save like the items above, you can archive them and save as a PDF. See – https://appleinsider.com/inside/imessage/tips/how-to-save-imessage-conversations-as-a-pdf

This can be very handy for critical message threads from a conversation with multiple users. I downloaded a long one that involved actions taken during a flood.

There are apps that promise to export a Messages conversation to PDF on iPhone or iPad, but we urge people to use a Mac if possible. If no Mac is available, seek out a screenshot stitching tool like Picsew that doesn’t collect personal data.

The Messages app on Mac can sync conversations from your iPhone or iPad. This is enabled as an iMessage feature by default, but users can also sync their SMS history to the Mac for easy export too.

Before you export your chat, ensure the Messages app is set up to sync conversations from your other devices.

Setting up iMessage and SMS sync

First, ensure iMessage is on in Settings on the iPhone or iPad. Just open Settings, scroll down to “Messages,” and check that “iMessage” is toggled on.

Second, check that iCloud Messages sync is on. At the top of the Settings app: tap your name, tap “iCloud,” tap “Show All,” tap “Messages,” then verify “Sync this iPhone” is toggled on.

Finally, turn on SMS Text Message Forwarding to sync non-iMessage texts to other devices. In Settings, scroll down to “Messages,” tap “Text Message Forwarding,” then select the devices you’d like to sync SMS messages to.

On the Mac, ensure Messages in iCloud is on by opening the Messages app preferences. Select “iMessage” from the tab bar and check “Enable Messages in iCloud.”

Exporting the Messages chat to PDF and Mail

Once the Mac Messages app is able to sync with your other devices, all that’s left is exporting the desired conversation. This works for iMessage and SMS chats, just make sure the chat has fully synced to begin.

  1. Open the conversation in Messages that needs to be exported.
  2. Scroll up to sync more of the chat. Conversations with a long chat history will require a lot of scrolling.
  3. Stop scrolling once you’ve reached the desired date of the chat needed for export, or when the history ends.
  4. Select “File” from the Menu Bar, then “Print.”
  5. Users can print/save as PDF the document from here.
  6. To ensure the document is preserved, export to PDF or Mail using the selection menu at the bottom.

This is the safest method to collect a Messages history into a PDF or printed document. There are third-party tools available on the web, but we’d encourage users avoid using them and stick to the official Apple-created method.