How to download WeChat log's from an iPhone

[Joearm]

I just spent the better part of three hours figuring this out and thought I'd put some instructions out there for anyone who is attempting to do this. I did this with an iPhone 5 that had iOS 7. Hopefully at some point someone makes these instructions into an app.

Part I) Getting the file

1) Connect your iPhone, and download iClover:http://www.iclover.com/

2) Once its installed and your iPhone is plugged in, open iClover.

3) Install this app and connect your iPhone to the computer.

4) Click on "File System" on the tool bar.

5) Open the following directory path -> Apps(User) -> 微信

6) This should display two folders. One will be all zero's and have one file in it. The other folder is the one we want, mine is named "3299b657a598b94d97eea206c1102bb3"

7) Click on this folder and then the "DB" folder.

8) There should be a file named "MM.SQLITE", right click this and from the drop down menu click "export" . Save it to your desktop.

Part II) Your chat history is in this file, but this is a database file and will need to be opened, and the conversation extracted.

9) Download SQLite Database Browser : http://sourceforge.n.../sqlitebrowser/

10) Unzip the contents and open "SQLite Database Browser 2.0 b1"

11) Go to File -> Open Database, and open the MM.sqlite which should be on your desktop.

12) Click the "Browse Data" tab.

13) There should be a drop down menu labeled "Table:", click on this and there should be a list of all of the Tables in this database.

14) Each conversation will be labeled "Chat_" followed by a strange name. Click on each one until you find the conversation your interested in.

15) Once you know the name of the Conversation... mine started with "Chat_4f4c9..." and was a really long name. Once you know the name go to the File menu.. File-> Export->Table as CSV file

16) Save it to your desktop.

Part III) You now have your conversation in the csv format with excess data. Download http://www.openoffice.org/, OR use Microsoft Excel to clean it up.

17) Open this in Excel or OpenOffice and begin to clean it up.

18) Your first row should say this, and I will being referring to these columns by name:

"TableVer" "MesLocalID" "MesSrvID" "CreateTime" "Message" "Status" "ImgStatus" "Type" "Des"

19) By right clicking the column letterhead delete these columns "TableVer" "MesLocalID" "MesSrvID" "ImgStatus" "Type" "Des"

If you want time stamps following these directions, if you know how to use Excel, otherwise skip ahead to step 21)

20) The equation to change the column "CreateTime" to an actual time stamp is as follows:

+D2/(60*60*24)+365.25*70-0.25, you can then convert that to a date stamp, if its off by an hour then to add or subtract hours is +/-(1/24). Fill the column with that equation, and then copy and paste it as numbers.

21) Delete the "CreateTime" column, just as was done in 19)

22) Look at the "Status" column, it should be listing some numbers, one of those numbers is going to be your ID, and the other will be the opposite ID.

23) You can replace these ID numbers with names by highlighting the "Status" Column. Now get to the Find/Replace toolbox. You can do this by looking to your tool ribbon for Home->Editing-> Find a pair of binoculars (sp?) or the words "Find & Select". You could also press Ctrl-F. Either way once you get to the find toolbox, hit the "replace" tab, and type your ID number in "Find What" and then in "Replace With" type your name. Hit Replace all. Repeat this for all members of the conversation.

24) Now delete the Title Row, to eliminate all those names.

Part IV: Almost done! Grab the text

25) Save your file and keep the formatting as a CSV file.

26) Open notepad ... Start Menu ->All Programs->Accessories->Notepad

22) File-> Open; At the open screen look for a drop down menu that is labeled "Text Documents (*.txt)" click it and it will drop down, click "All Files", you should now be able to find and open your csv file that now holds your cleaned up conversation log.

23) You can now copy and paste this log into whatever you wish, it should be formatted and good to go.

Let me know what you think. Hope this helps anyone who needs the information.

Happy hunting

[dan1984]

Any ideas for an Android non-Iphone using user?

[Randy W]

Any ideas for an Android non-Iphone using user?

 

 

It sounds like iClover is not needed - begin at step 5 and copy the file to your PC. I don't use WeChat myself, so I can't check it out, but I expect this will work.

 

The file is an SQL database, so any SQL client should work.

 

You can access the file system on Android through the USB connection.

[Joearm]

Sorry all, apparently I published this before I was done. Not sure how that happened.

 

dan1984: I don't use Android but you should just be able to search for the file "MM" or "MM.SQLite", I doubt they have changed the way that database functions. So I think Randy W is right in that you can probably just do a search for the "MM.SQLite" file and then follow the instructions from there.

 

Gotta go to the office and then off to Beijing in the morning. All the best!

Edited October 2, 2013 by Joearm (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Joe - thanks for the detail there. Hopefully, that WILL come in handy for someone. I hid a second topic that appeared to be identical. let me know if that wasn't the case. Thanks again.

[dan1984]

Duly noted, thanks guys! I'll have to try it out when I have a couple extra minutes.

[blue.rock]

FYI We exported a chat log report using a 3rd party program my wife found. We turned in the exported chat log SUMMARY showing how many messages have been sent, and since when. We turned this in along with other evidence to support a bona fide relationship during the I-130 filing DCF.

[johnny206]

@blue.rock what's the name of the program? Where to download if it's not obvious? Thanks for sharing!

[dnoblett]

Take screen shots. <power><square> transfer these pictures to a computer and you can paste them into a document to be printed, I did similar for yahoo messenger back when filing petition for my wife.

[Greg.D.]

Just did this with a Mac:
1. Download iBackup Viewer, SQLite Database Browser

2. Open iBackup Viewer and select the correct device that has the WeChat msg's.

3. Choose the category "Raw Data" and find/select "com.tencent.xin" from list of apps

4. Find in the list of files "MM.sqlite"; the path starts with "Documents/" and save it.

5. Open it with SQLite Database Browser; the folder "com.tencent.xin" will be saved and the MM.sqlite file can be found in a subdirectory

6. "Browse data" and begin to look in Tables that begin with "Chat_"; you will see the msg's from your contact in one column of the table

7. Under the File menu, select "Export"/"Table as CSV File" and scroll to the table you identified in the above step and save

8. Use JoeArm's steps above for importing into Excel

 

Note: msg's sent in Web WeChat are a problem during import; those that were pasted in or otherwise contain return's and comma's etc make a mess in the table - so, I repaired as many as I could and chose not to delete any columns.

 

In one year, I have 33,000+ msg's - and there were none during the 7 weeks we spent together!

 

Now, to tackle Skype and FaceTime!

Greg

[WesUnslid]

Hi, this is my first post here, hoping someone could be of help.

 

I've tried to follow this procedure to download my wechat log, but to no avail.

 

I have an android phone, have searched for the MM.SQLITE file but have found nothing.

In searching, I found this website that says that the database file for android is named EnMicroMsg.db

but I couldn't find that either.

One thing I'm wondering is if my phone needs to be rooted for me to have access to these database files.

But that doesn't sound to be the case with the iPhone, so maybe not.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I don't need the logs for legal reasons, but I would like to have them for romantic reasons. So many beautiful words that I want to preserve.

 

Thanks in Advance!

wes

[dan1984]

I have the same question!

 

If you have the newest version of WeChat, there is the option to email conversation logs, so, you can just email the conversation log to yourself.

 

However, that only includes written out text messages, and not pictures or voice messages, etc. Apparently there is a way you can save this information if you have your phone connected to your computer, but I too have not had much luck.......

 

......any help?

[Greg.D.]

If you just want the occasional pic you can seav the screen shot - which I think is nice - or "save to phone" and pick them out one at a time. Using iBackup VIewer on the Mac and picking through the backup file - I am finding pics and movies (which can be saved one at a time) - but I haven't found a voice message yet.

Greg

 

Edit: Actually, I found recorded messages in the long list of files; they are saved with extension "aud" - which I haven't figured out how to open and play back yet.

 

Also: I doubt you need to root an Android phone if you can just mount it in Windows - I don't have Win right now - nor do I have Android. We Mac users can not mount the file system (anymore) of the iPhone on a Mac - all I am doing in this case is picking through the backup file of my ipad and finding the data I want.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Greg.D. (see edit history)

[Dannyt183]

Hi - first post.

 

There still doesn't seem to be a solution for Android users here? Does anyone have any more ideas? Thanks

[mariahb]

sorry but i'm abit lost at step 20, where should i paste the equation? should i get rid of the previous values or just add in the equation to the original value of the cells under "CurrentTime" thanks >.<