A viewer for sms.db and chat.db

sms.db (iPhone) and chat.db (Mac) are SQLite databases. A database browser shows tables like message, handle and chat_message_join, timestamps in nanoseconds since 2001 and text hidden in binary blobs. Threadlode turns them into conversations.

Open Threadlode – free

What Threadlode handles

Dates in seconds or nanoseconds since 2001-01-01, shown in your time zone
Messages whose text is only in attributedBody (iOS 16 and later, macOS Ventura and later)
Tapbacks attached to the right message, including removed ones
Group chats, renamed groups, members added or removed
Several chat rows for the same person (iMessage and SMS) merged into one conversation
chat.db-wal: recent messages not yet written to chat.db

Opening the file

For a Mac, open the whole ~/Library/Messages folder (or a copy) so attachments are found. A single sms.db or chat.db file can be opened too – then attachments are listed by name only. If you choose files, pick chat.db together with chat.db-wal.

Read-only

Threadlode copies the database into memory and never writes to your files.

Questions and answers

The Mac says the browser can’t access ~/Library/Messages

macOS protects that folder from apps. In Finder choose Go → Go to Folder…, type ~/Library/Messages, copy the folder to e.g. your Desktop, and open the copy. (Alternatively, give the browser “Full Disk Access” in System Settings.)

Last updated: 2026-10-26