# CertifiedCopy

> Export iPhone and Mac text messages to PDF or CSV, entirely in the browser. Nothing is uploaded,
> because there is no server to upload it to.

CertifiedCopy reads an Apple Messages database — a `chat.db` from a Mac, or the `sms.db` inside an
iPhone backup — and renders any conversation as a PDF transcript or a CSV. The SQLite engine, the
message parser and the PDF renderer are compiled to WebAssembly and run in the reader's own
browser. No account, no upload, no cost.

## Why it is different from other message exporters

Comparable tools (iMazing, Decipher TextMessage, TextPort, MessageHarvest) process messages on a
server, in a desktop application that phones home, or by asking you to send a backup somewhere.
CertifiedCopy has no server component at all: the page is static files, and the work happens in
the tab. This is verifiable rather than promised — a browser's network panel shows no request
carrying message data during an export, and the project's test suite asserts it on every change.

## What the certification page contains

Every exported PDF opens with: the source file's name and size, its SHA-256 digest, the
conversation, the number of messages, the date range actually covered, the participants, and the
tool version.

## What it deliberately does not claim

CertifiedCopy does not claim exports are "court admissible". Admissibility is determined by a
court under Federal Rule of Evidence 901. What a hash supports is the narrower claim in FRE
902(14): that a digital copy can be self-authenticated by a certification describing the hash
verification showing it matches the original. Any tool claiming to confer admissibility is
overstating what a tool can do.

## Finding the messages inside an iPhone backup

A Finder or iTunes backup keeps no directory structure: every file is stored flat under a
40-character SHA-1 of `"<domain>-<relative path>"`, bucketed by its first two characters. The
Messages database is `HomeDomain-Library/SMS/sms.db`, which is
`3d/3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28`. CertifiedCopy derives that name rather than asking
anyone to find it, so choosing the backup folder is enough. An encrypted backup is detected and
named as such, rather than reported as a corrupt database.

## Known limits, stated plainly

- A live Mac `chat.db` is in WAL mode and incomplete without its `-wal` sidecar. CertifiedCopy
  refuses it rather than silently reading a partial copy, and shows the `VACUUM INTO` command that
  produces a self-contained one.
- Emoji and other characters outside the PDF font's range are shown as `[?]` in PDF exports and
  counted on the certification page. CSV exports preserve them exactly.
- Reading a live iPhone over USB is not supported: a browser cannot claim the USB interface,
  because macOS holds it exclusively. Make a backup first.

## Pages

- https://certified.sh/ — what the tool does, how to use it, and the privacy claim it rests on.
- https://certified.sh/text-messages-as-evidence/ — what separates a defensible export from a
  screenshot: FRE 901 versus 902(14) as two different questions, why the SHA-256 digest is taken
  over the source database rather than over the PDF, what the certification block states field by
  field, and what to preserve before exporting anything.
- https://certified.sh/read-an-iphone-backup/ — where Finder and iTunes write backups on macOS and
  Windows, what `Manifest.db`, `Manifest.plist`, `Info.plist` and `Status.plist` are, why no file
  in the folder has a readable name, what encryption changes, and what a backup never contains.

## Links

- App: https://certified.sh/app/
- Built by: Avarok (https://avarok.net/), Thomas Braun (https://thomaspbraun.com/)
- Licence: AGPL-3.0