Ago

Find any text, from any year.

Ago searches your whole Messages history on your Mac and your iPhone. Nothing ever leaves your devices. No account, no cloud, no tracking.

Get Ago How your privacy works

For Mac (macOS 14 or later) and iPhone (iOS 17 or later). The iPhone app is in beta on TestFlight.

Ago on iPhone: a search for “dinner” shows 188,871 matches, a row of years from 2012 to 2026, and highlighted results.

How it works

Your Mac does the work. Your phone asks it.

Messages on its own is bad at search. It's slow, it misses things, and it barely goes back a year. Ago builds a proper search index from the messages already on your Mac.

  1. Index on your Mac

    Ago reads Messages on your Mac and builds a private search index. You give it Full Disk Access once (that's the macOS setting that lets an app read your Messages). The index stays on your Mac.

  2. Pair your iPhone

    Ago on your Mac shows a QR code. Scan it with Ago on your iPhone. That's the whole setup. No account, no password.

  3. Search from your phone

    At home, your phone asks your Mac directly over Wi-Fi. It also keeps its own copy of the index, so search still works on a plane or when the Mac is asleep.

Ago on Mac: search results on the left, the matching message in its conversation on the right.
Ago on Mac. Results on the left, the full conversation on the right.
Ago on iPhone: a conversation opened from a search result.
Tap a result to read it in context. Screens show made-up sample data.

Years, not endless scrolling

A dial shows how many matches you have in each year. Tap 2016 and you're there.

Read it in context

Open any result to see the whole conversation around it, with photos, links and replies.

Filters that make sense

Narrow by who sent it, which chat it's in, or a date range. Sort by newest or best match.

Insights

Who you text most, your streaks, when in the day you text, and how much space your photos take up.

Works offline

Your phone keeps its own copy of the index, so search works without Wi-Fi, in airplane mode, or away from home.

Looks like time

Today is in color. Older years fade toward grey, like old photos. Pick from five color themes.

Privacy

Your texts stay yours.

Your messages are the most private thing on your phone. So Ago is built to never send them anywhere.

  • Ago doesn't use the internet. No servers, no accounts, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. A check runs on every build of the app and stops it if any internet code shows up.
  • Only your Mac and your iPhone talk. They connect directly over your home Wi-Fi (your local network: the devices on your own router). The connection is encrypted, so other devices on the same Wi-Fi can't read it. Your phone only talks to the Mac it paired with.
  • The copy on your phone stays on your phone. It's protected by your iPhone's built-in encryption, so it can't be read while your phone is locked. It stays on that phone and isn't included in iCloud backups.
  • We collect nothing. The App Store label says “Data Not Collected.” That's literally true. We don't have a server to send anything to.
Read the privacy policy

Download

Get Ago.

You need both: the Mac app builds the index, the iPhone app searches it. Install the Mac app first.

Ago for Mac

Builds your search index and lets you search right on your Mac. Lives in your menu bar.

Mac download coming soonSigned and notarized by Apple

macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Needs Messages set up on this Mac.

Ago for iPhone

Pairs with your Mac by QR code, then searches over Wi-Fi or offline.

Join the beta on TestFlightComing to the App Store soon

iOS 17 or later. Install Apple's free TestFlight app first.