In this tutorial, we’ll share a few different ways to save photos, videos, files, and other attachments you received in Messages to your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The Messages app lets you send and receive all sorts of media, including PDFs, ZIPs, and other files. Most of the time, what you receive is just for a quick look, but on some occasions, it might be something you want to save.
It could be a photo of a faraway family member, a contract, an estimate for work, an invoice, a receipt, or anything else. These types of attachments are worth saving and maybe even necessary. So, it’s important you know how to do that.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the conversation in the Messages app and follow one of these methods.
Method 1: Tap the download/save arrow button if you see it next to a photo.
Method 2: Long-press the photo and select Save.
Both these methods will save the image to the Photos app. Note that the Messages app can also save the images directly to the Photos app, but you can easily stop that.
Method 3: Tap a photo, video, audio, PDF, ZIP, or another type of file you have received. Now, tap the share icon and choose Save to Files. Select the location within the Files app for the saved item and tap Save. You can see this saved media by going to the Apple Files app.
Method 4: Tap the person’s name from the top of the conversation screen and scroll down to see your photos, docs, and more. You can tap See All to view everything. Now, touch and hold an item and choose Save or Share. If you use the Share option, proceed to save it to the Files app.
On Mac
Method 1: Click the download icon next to the picture if you see it. This will save the image to your Mac’s Photos app, and you can see it in the Recently Saved section.
Method 2: Open the conversation in Messages and right-click the item. If the attachment is a photo or image, you’ll see an option for Add to Photos Library.
Method 3: Right-click over a file like PDF and choose Save to Downloads. This will add the file to your Finder’s Downloads folder.
Method 4: Right-click and then use the Open or Quick Look option to save photos and other files. You can also Quick Look by selecting the file and pressing the Space Bar key. Now, use the share button in the Quick Look window or the button next to it like the one to open that file in Preview. With Preview open, click File > Save from the top menu bar.
Method 5: If the photo or file was sent to you a while back, there’s no reason to scroll through Messages to find it. With the conversation open, click the info icon ⓘ on the top right. Move down the pop-out window showing your contact’s details, and you’ll see all Photos and Documents from that contact. Then, use the right-click or drag-and-drop methods to save it. If you want to save more than one photo or document, hold your Command key and select each one.
Check out next: How to bulk delete attachments from the Messages app on Mac