Comparison

Message Archive vs Message Vault

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Message Archive

Features
Read full description

PRESERVE YOUR MESSAGE HISTORY Message Archive lets you view and search your archived messages on iPhone. Perfect for preserving conversations or keeping a personal backup of important messages. FEATURES โ€ข View all your archived conversations โ€ข Search by contact name or phone number โ€ข Display photos and media attachments โ€ข Sort by most recent messages โ€ข Works completely offline โ€ข All data stays on your device HOW IT WORKS 1. Import your message archive folder 2. Choose your storage option (offline or linked) 3. Browse and search your message history PRIVACY FIRST Your messages never leave your device. No cloud services, no data collection, no tracking. Message Archive reads your archive files locally - your privacy is absolute. STORAGE OPTIONS Choose between: โ€ข Save to Device - Full offline access, uses device storage โ€ข Link Only - Access files from iCloud or external location, saves space PERFECT FOR โ€ข Preserving important conversations โ€ข Creating message backups โ€ข Legal or personal records โ€ข Keeping message history

About

Message Vault

Features
Read full description

Message Vault turns your text conversations โ€” years of them, going back further than your phone can currently show โ€” into a private, permanent, searchable archive that only you can open. THE COMPLETE BACKUP, DONE HONESTLY A real backup of a text thread means two things: the words, and the pictures. Message Vault keeps the words โ€” every message, searchable, forever. Apple doesn't allow any outside app to reach the photos and videos inside Messages, so Message Vault can't copy those, and it never pretends to. Instead, it walks you through saving your photos and videos into your own Photos library โ€” a few taps, right inside the app โ€” and marks in every conversation where a photo or video belongs, so your searchable text becomes the index back to the picture. Your words live in Message Vault. Your pictures live in Photos. Together, that's the whole conversation, kept. YEARS OF CONVERSATIONS, ACTUALLY SEARCHABLE Messages makes it hard to search anything old and painful to get anything out. Message Vault holds everything you've archived โ€” search by name, date, or a half-remembered phrase, and export what you find. IMPORT WITH A TAP, APPROVE EVERY BATCH Message Vault never reads your messages on its own. You run the Vault Sync shortcut yourself, and iOS shows you exactly what's being shared every time. Anything already archived is recognized and never duplicated. ENCRYPTED BEFORE IT TOUCHES ANYTHING Everything you archive is encrypted on your device with a key that lives in your iPhone's Keychain โ€” decrypted only in memory, only for you. YOUR iCLOUD, NOT OURS Optionally keep an encrypted copy in your own Apple Account's private iCloud database. It leaves your phone only as ciphertext โ€” there's no Message Vault server, so there's nowhere for us to read your messages. A RECOVERY PHRASE ONLY YOU HOLD Turn on recovery and you get a one-time phrase that unlocks your vault on a new iPhone. We never see it and can't recover it โ€” that's what makes it yours. NO ACCOUNTS. NO ANALYTICS. NO SERVERS. Message Vault is a paid app on purpose, so you're the customer, not the product. GOOD TO KNOW Message Vault archives what iOS makes available to Shortcuts, typically conversations through the previous day. Sync is manual. Requires the free Shortcuts app from Apple. Message Vault is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc. iMessage and iCloud are trademarks of Apple Inc.

Screenshots

Message Archive4 screens
Message Vault4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Message Archive at Free against Message Vault's $4.99. Message Archive also leads on iOS requirement (18.5 vs 26.0). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Message Archive is free to download; Message Vault costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Message Archive versus Message Vault: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMessage ArchiveMessage Vault
PriceFree โ€” better$4.99
Update frequencyโ€”Every 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS18.5 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size1 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDaniel KennedyBS Boys LLC

In-app purchases

None

Message Archive

No in-app purchases

None

Message Vault

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Message Archive free?
Message Archive is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Message Vault free?
Message Vault costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Message Archive or Message Vault have ads?
Neither Message Archive nor Message Vault shows ads.

Other comparisons