Your iMessage history, kept for good.
Message Vault archives every message from every place it has ever lived, merges them into one searchable vault, and keeps archiving on a schedule so nothing goes missing again.
14-day free trial. One-time purchase, no subscription. Requires macOS 14 or later.
What it does
Archives the live database
Reads the Messages database on your Mac, read-only, and copies every message and attachment into a vault you control.
Merges every source
Old Macs, external drives, macOS exports, and iPhone backups each hold pieces the others lost. Message Vault merges them all and counts overlap as confirmation, not duplication.
Never loses a message
There is no delete operation anywhere in the app. Once a message is in the vault, it stays.
Archives on a schedule
A background agent runs incremental archives so new messages are captured long before any retention window closes.
Tamper-evident
A hash-chained manifest lets you verify the vault has not been altered since it was written.
Encrypted off-site backup
Optional AES-256 encrypted backup to a local drive, NAS, iCloud Drive, or an S3-compatible bucket. The key never leaves your Keychain.
Search everything
Full-text search across the whole vault, with browsing by conversation and a coverage view that shows where the gaps are.
Safe to delete, proven
For every old drive or backup, the app tells you whether every message and attachment is verified present elsewhere before you let it go.
Why now
Message retention is a single setting buried in Messages preferences, and it is easy to change by accident or during a setup assistant. Once older messages are gone from the live database, they exist only in whatever backups you happen to have, and no single backup is ever complete. Message Vault exists so the answer to “do I still have that conversation?” is always yes.
Pricing
$29, once. That is the whole price. The trial is fully functional for 14 days. After that, the app still opens and still archives on schedule, so your messages are never held hostage, but browsing, search, and export wait for a license key. Keys are verified on your Mac and never phone home.
FAQ
Why is it not on the Mac App Store?
Reading the Messages database needs Full Disk Access, and Apple does not allow Full Disk Access inside the App Store sandbox. So the app is distributed directly, signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, and updates itself in place.
Does it change or delete anything in Messages?
No. Every source is opened read-only and in a mode that stops SQLite from writing even its usual sidecar files next to your originals. The only file the app ever writes is its own vault.
Where does my data go?
Wherever you point the vault: an internal folder, an external drive, or a NAS. Nothing is uploaded unless you set up the optional encrypted backup, and even then the encryption key stays in your Keychain.
What are the requirements?
macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and Full Disk Access granted once in System Settings.
How many Macs can I use it on?
A license is per person. Use it on the Macs you own.
Refunds?
Try it free for 14 days first. If something is wrong after you buy, email us within 14 days of purchase and we will sort it out.