better-osa-imessage

Send and receive iMessages through nodejs. Updated for ESM and modern NodeJS. better-osa-imessage can also get and send files.

Installation

Requires OSX 10.10 Yosemite

npm install better-osa-imessage --save

Usage

Be sure to import better-osa-imessage:

import * as imessage from 'better-osa-imessage';

Send a message

imessage.send('+15555555555', 'Hello World!');

Send a file

imessage.sendFile('+15555555555', '/Users/timcook/Desktop/apple_logo.png');

Receive messages

imessage.listen().on('message', (msg) => {
    if (!msg.fromMe) console.log(`'${msg.text}' from ${msg.handle}`);
});

Send message to name

imessage.handleForName('Tim Cook').then(handle => {
    imessage.send(handle, 'Hello');
});

Send message to group

imessage.send('chat000000000000000000', 'Hello everyone!');

Send file to group

imessage.sendFile('chat000000000000000000', '/Users/timcook/Desktop/apple_logo2.png');

Get recent chats

imessage.getRecentChats(20); // Defaults to 10

API

Send a message

send(handle, text) -> Promise

Sends a message to the specified handle.

handle

Type: string

The user or group to send the message to, in one of the following forms:

• phone number (+1555555555)
• email address (user@example.com)
• group chat id (chat000000000000000000)

text

Type: string

The content of the message to be sent.

return

Type: Promise<>

A promise that resolves when the message is sent, and rejects if the message fails to send.

Send a file

sendFile(handle, filepath) -> Promise

Sends a file to the specified handle.

handle

Type: string

The user or group to send the message to, in one of the following forms:

• phone number (+1555555555)
• email address (user@example.com)
• group chat id (chat000000000000000000)

filepath

Type: string

The full path of the file to be sent.

return

Type: Promise<>

A promise that resolves when the file is sent, and rejects if the file fails to send.

Receive messages

listen([interval]) -> EventEmitter

Begins polling the local iMessage database for new messages.

interval

Type: number

The rate at which the database is polled for new messages. Defaults to the minimum of 1000 ms.

return

Type: EventEmitter

An event emitter with that listeners can be attached to. Currently it only has the message event.

Example message event

{
    text: 'Hello, world!',
    handle: '+15555555555',
    group: null,
    date: new Date('2017-04-11T02:02:13.000Z'),
    fromMe: false,
    guid: 'F79E08A5-4314-43B2-BB32-563A2BB76177',
    file: '/Users/timcook/Library/Messages/Attachments/apple_logo3.heic',
    fileType: 'image/heic'
}

Example group message event

{
    text: 'Hello, group!',
    handle: '+15555555555',
    group: 'chat000000000000000000',
    date: new Date('2017-04-23T21:18:54.943Z'),
    fromMe: false,
    guid: 'DCFE0EEC-F9DD-48FC-831B-06C75B76ACB9',
    file: null,
    fileType: null
}

Get a handle for a given name

handleForName(name) -> Promise<handle>

name

Type: string

The full name of the desired contact, as displayed in Messages.app.

return

Type: Promise<string>

A promise that resolves with the handle of the contact, or rejects if nobody was found.

Get the name associated with a given handle

nameForHandle(handle) -> Promise<name>

handle

Type: string

The handle of a contact.

return

Type: Promise<string>

A promise that resolved with the full name of the desired contact, as displayed in Messages.app.

Get recents chats

getRecentChats(limit) -> Promise

limit

Type: integer

Amount of recent chats to return.

return

Type: Promise

A promise that resolves with an array of chats.