How it works
Five minutes. One Mac. No awkward questions.
Download an app, flip a switch, pick your people. Then you text Roster Report from your iPhone like anyone else. No setup skills required.
- A Mac with macOS 13 or later
- Messages signed in on your Mac
- An iPhone with iMessage
- About five minutes
Download Roster Report for Mac.
Open the download and drag Roster Report into your Applications folder, like any other app. It lives quietly in your menu bar. No Dock icon, nothing to babysit.
Open it and allow.
Roster Report walks you through it and opens the right page of System Settings for you. Flip one switch so it can read Messages (Apple calls it “Full Disk Access”), then click OK when it asks about Contacts. That’s the whole technical part.
Click Connect in Roster Report and your browser links it to your account. No codes to copy, no passwords to type into anything weird.
Pick your people.
Roster Report lists the people you text, with names and dates only. You choose who it remembers. Only their conversations sync, encrypted. Everyone else stays a name and a timestamp.
Free remembers 3 people. Pro remembers as many as you can keep straight, and then some.
Your conversationsNadiaLast message 2 days ago✓ZoeLast message Today✓TessLast message Today✓RosaLast message YesterdayText Roster Report from your iPhone.
Point your iPhone camera at the code on your setup page. Messages opens with a short message already typed. Hit send, and Roster Report texts you back.
From then on it’s just a contact in your phone. Probably your most reliable one.
link 482913linked. it’s me, roster report 👑roster report3 people on your roster, 1 of them waiting 2 days. it’s nadia. she ran 18 miles
Questions you were going to ask.
Why does it need a Mac?
iPhones don’t let apps read your Messages. Macs signed in to the same iMessage account keep a copy of your conversations, so Roster Report for Mac does the reading there. Your iPhone setup doesn’t change at all.
Does my Mac have to stay on?
For real-time nudges and instant replies from Roster Report, yes: on, awake, and online. If it sleeps, Roster Report catches up when it wakes. Your roster, memory and daily report are still there in the meantime.
What exactly leaves my Mac?
For everyone you talk to 1:1: a name from Contacts, their number or email, and when you last talked. No message text. For people you add to your roster: their message text too, encrypted before it’s stored. Group chats aren’t synced. The full details are in the privacy policy.
Is it safe to switch on “Full Disk Access”?
It’s the only way macOS lets any app read your Messages history, so the name sounds bigger than what Roster Report does with it. Roster Report reads Messages and nothing else, syncs a list of who you talk to, and syncs message text only for the people you pick. You can switch it off in System Settings any time.
What if I don’t have a Mac?
You can still use Roster Report: import screenshots of your chats and text Roster Report from your iPhone. It just remembers less, because it only knows what you show it.
Can I take someone off my roster?
Any time, from your dashboard or by texting Roster Report. Their synced messages and everything Roster Report remembered about them are deleted. You’ll have to remember their dog’s name yourself.
Does Roster Report ever text people for me?
Only when you tell it to. Suggested replies are drafts. If you ask Roster Report to send one, it goes out from your Mac through Messages, after Name Guard has had a look.
What about Android?
Roster Report works with iMessage, which means Apple devices. If your phone makes green bubbles, we’re sorry, and so is everyone you text.