How to export iPhone text messages (iMessage and SMS) to a Windows PC

Last updated: 10 October 2026

Quick answer: the iPhone has no “export conversation” button, and Windows has no Messages app. Your messages are inside an iPhone backup, but locked in a database file. To get readable copies on a PC, either screenshot or copy them by hand (fine for a few messages), or use a tool that reads them over USB and saves each conversation as a page you can open, search and print.

Why it's harder than it should be

On a Mac, the Messages app shows your conversations. On Windows there is nothing equivalent. iCloud keeps messages in sync between Apple devices, but icloud.com does not show them, and iCloud for Windows does not download them.

Free ways, and where they stop

Screenshots. Fine for one conversation or a few key messages. Not practical for years of history, and the text isn't searchable.
Copy and paste. Press and hold a message, tap Copy, paste it into an email or note to yourself. One message at a time.
A backup with the Apple Devices app or iTunes. This does save every message, and it's worth having, but on the PC the messages sit inside a database file (sms.db) in a folder of coded file names. You cannot open or read them without extra software.

Export every conversation with PhotoFroggy

PhotoFroggy reads your messages over the USB cable, the same way a backup does but keeping only your messages, contacts and Files-app documents, and saves them in forms anyone can open:

One page per conversation, opening in any browser: messages in bubbles, with names from your contacts, dates and times, emoji and Japanese exactly as on the phone. Print it, or save it as a PDF.
A spreadsheet of every message (CSV), for searching or keeping records.
All conversations, or only the ones you tick.
Photos and attachments sent in Messages, if you want them. That reads the whole backup, so it can take an hour or more; without attachments, a read takes about 3–5 minutes.

Step by step

Connect the iPhone with a USB cable, unlock it and tap Trust.
In PhotoFroggy, open Messages and click Read messages, contacts and files. Keep the iPhone unlocked until it finishes.
Tick the conversations you want, choose a folder and click Export.
Open the folder and double-click a conversation's page.

Good to know

Nothing on the iPhone changes. Messages are read, not moved or deleted.
Encrypted backups: if your iPhone is set to Encrypt local backup (in the Apple Devices app or iTunes), messages can only be read with the backup password. PhotoFroggy doesn't support that yet.
Messages in iCloud: if older messages have been offloaded to iCloud and are no longer on the phone, only what is on the iPhone can be read.