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https://github.com/caleb531/imessage-conversation-analyzer

Gathers metrics of your choice for the entire history of a macOS Messages conversation
https://github.com/caleb531/imessage-conversation-analyzer

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Gathers metrics of your choice for the entire history of a macOS Messages conversation

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README 

        
# iMessage Conversation Analyzer



*Copyright 2020-2024 Caleb Evans*  

*Released under the MIT license*



[![tests](https://github.com/caleb531/imessage-conversation-analyzer/actions/workflows/tests.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/caleb531/imessage-conversation-analyzer/actions/workflows/tests.yml)

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iMessage Conversation Analyzer (ICA) is a fully-typed Python library that will

read the contents of an iMessage conversation via the Messages app's database on

macOS. You can then gather various metrics of interest on the messages. The library also includes a CLI utility for easy use.



Much of this program was inspired by and built using findings from [this blog post by Yorgos Askalidis][blog-post].



[blog-post]: https://towardsdatascience.com/heres-how-you-can-access-your-entire-imessage-history-on-your-mac-f8878276c6e9



### Caveats



Please note that currently, you can only query conversations between you and a

single other person (i.e. group chats are currently unsupported).



It should also be clarified that this program only supports macOS, since the

presence of the chat.db file in your user Library directory is essential for the

program to function.



## Installation



### 1. Install Python 3



To install Python 3, you'll need to install the Apple Command Line Tools, which

you can install by running:



```sh

xcode-select --install

```



Don't worry if you see a long download time; it will shorten rather quickly.



### 2. Set up virtualenv



```sh

pip3 install virtualenv

```



```sh

virtualenv --python=python3 .virtualenv

source .virtualenv/bin/activate

```



### 3. Install project depdendencies



```sh

pip install -r requirements.txt

```



## Usage



The package includes both a Command Line API for simplicity/convenience, as well

as a Python API for maximum flexibility.



### Command Line API



To use ICA from the command line, simply invoke the `ica` command. The minimum required arguments are:



1. A path to an analyzer file to run, or the name of a built-in analyzer

2. The first and last name of the contact, via the `-c`/`--contact` flag

   1. If the contact has no last name on record, you can just pass the first

      name



### Other formats



You can optionally pass the `-f`/`--format` flag to output to a specific format

like CSV (supported formats include `csv`, `excel`/`xlsx`, and `markdown`/`md`).



```sh

ica message_totals -c 'Jane Fernbrook' -f csv

```



```sh

ica ./my_custom_analyzer.py -c 'Jane Fernbrook' -f csv

```



### Writing to a file



Finally, there is an optional `-o`/`--output` flag if you want to output to a

specified file. ICA will do its best to infer the format from the file

extension, although you could also pass `--format` if you have special filename

requirements.



```sh

ica transcript -c 'Thomas Riverstone' -o ./my_transcript.xlsx

```



#### Built-in analyzers



The library includes several built-in analyzers so that you can use ICA out of

the box:



1. `message_totals`: a summary of message and reaction counts, by person and in

   total, as well as other insightful metrics

2. `attachment_totals`: lists count data by attachment type, including

   number of Spotify links shared, YouTube videos, Apple Music, etc.

3. `most_frequent_emojis`: count data for the top 10 most frequently used emojis

   across the entire conversation

4. `totals_by_day`: a comprehensive breakdown of message totals for every day

   you and the other person have been messaging in the conversation

5. `transcript`: a full, unedited transcript of every message, including

   reactions, between you and the other person (attachment files not included)



Again, to call one of these built-in analyzers, just pass it as the first

argument to the `ica` command:



```sh

ica most_frequent_emojis -c 'Jane Fernbrook'

```



### Python API



The Python API is much more powerful, allowing you to integrate ICA into any

type of Python project that can run on macOS. All of the built-in analyzers

themselves (under the `ica/analyzers` directory) actually use this API.



```python

# get_my_transcript.py



import pandas as pd



import ica



# Export a transcript of the entire conversation

def main() -> None:

    # Allow your program to accept all the same CLI arguments as the `ica`

    # command; you can skip calling this if have other means of specifying the

    # contact name and output format

    cli_args = ica.get_cli_args()

    # Retrieve the dataframes corresponding to the massaged contents of the

    # database; dataframes include `message` and `attachment`

    dfs = ica.get_dataframes(

        contact_name=cli_args.contact_name,

        timezone=cli_args.timezone

    )

    # Send the results to stdout (or to file) in the given format

    ica.output_results(

        pd.DataFrame(

            {

                "timestamp": dfs.messages["datetime"],

                "is_from_me": dfs.messages["is_from_me"],

                "is_reaction": dfs.messages["is_reaction"],

                # U+FFFC is the object replacement character, which appears as

                # the textual message for every attachment

                "message": dfs.messages["text"].replace(

                    r"\ufffc", "(attachment)", regex=True

                ),

            }

        ),

        # The default format (None) corresponds to the pandas default dataframe

        # table format

        format=cli_args.format,

        # When output is None (the default), ICA will print to stdout

        output=cli_args.output,

    )



if __name__ == "__main__":

    main()

```



You can run the above program using the `ica` command, or execute it directly

like any other Python program.



```sh

ica ./get_my_transcript.py -c 'Thomas Riverstone'

```



```sh

python ./get_my_transcript.py -c 'Thomas Riverstone'

```



```sh

python -m get_my_transcript -c 'Thomas Riverstone'

```



You're not limited to writing a command line program, though! The

`ica.get_dataframes()` function is the only function you will need in any

analyzer program. But beyond that, feel free to import other modules, send your

results to other processes, or whatever you need to do!



You can also import any built-in analyzer (for your own post-processing) via the

`ica.analyzers` namespace.



### Errors and exceptions



- `BaseAnalyzerException`: the base exception class for all library-related

  errors and exceptions

- `ContactNotFoundError`: raised if the specified contact was not found

- `ConversationNotFoundError`: raised if the specified conversation was not

  found

- `FormatNotSupportedError`: raised if the specified format is not supported by

  the library



#### Using a specific timezone



By default, all dates and times are in the local timezone of the system on which

ICA is run. If you'd like to change this, you can pass the `--timezone` / `-t`

option to the CLI with an IANA timezone name.



```sh

ica totals_by_day -c 'Daniel Brightingale' -t UTC

```



```sh

ica totals_by_day -c 'Daniel Brightingale' -t America/New_York

```



The equivalent option for the Python API is the `timezone` parameter to

`ica.get_dataframes`:



```python

dfs = ica.get_dataframes(contact_name=my_contact_name, timezone='UTC')

```