To see all your messages in one app on Mac, use Tera Chat: a free, native Mac app that brings iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and Tinder into one inbox and drafts replies in your own texting style. It's for anyone with an Apple silicon Mac on macOS 15 or later who is tired of switching apps to keep up with the people who matter.
What Tera Chat puts in one place
Every thread lands in one list, tinted by the app it came from, so you always know where a conversation lives. You can filter to needs reply, unread or pinned, and use tags, pins, mute and archive to keep work, family and dating apart.
Supported today: iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and Tinder. Hinge is in beta, and Bumble is marked as coming soon. Tera Chat also adds your messages to Spotlight, so you can search them from anywhere on your Mac, and it lives in the menu bar: Shift-Command-M (⌘⇧M) brings it up from any app.
Tera Chat is made by Tera Labs. It isn't affiliated with any of the services it connects to.
How to get all your messages in one app on Mac
Each messaging service stores and delivers messages differently, so a unified inbox has to connect to each one on its own terms. Here is how Tera Chat does it:
- iMessage. macOS keeps your iMessage history in a protected database on your Mac, and Tera Chat reads it locally, which is why it asks for Full Disk Access. You only need that permission for iMessage, and you can revoke it in System Settings → Privacy & Security. To send, Tera Chat asks the Messages app to deliver your message, so macOS also asks you to let it control Messages.
- WhatsApp. Tera Chat joins your account as a linked device. In Settings → Messaging it shows a QR code; on your phone, open WhatsApp → Settings → Linked Devices → Link a Device and scan it.
- Telegram, Instagram and Tinder. From Tera Chat's settings, you sign in to each service's own web version (Telegram Web, instagram.com, tinder.com), the same way you would in a browser. Tera Chat keeps that session on your Mac and uses it to sync new messages and send your replies.
- Hinge (beta) and Bumble (soon). Hinge setup downloads extra tools, only when you start it in Settings. Bumble isn't available yet.
Your logins and account sessions are stored in the macOS Keychain, along with any AI API keys you add.
One trade-off: Tera Chat talks to each service from your Mac the same way their own apps and websites do, but those services set their own rules. Tera Chat's terms say plainly that services may limit or close accounts that use automation, so automatic sending is at your own risk.
Whichever tool you pick for this job, check five things first:
- Where your messages are stored: your Mac or a company's server.
- Which text goes to an AI model, and to which company.
- Whether it can send without you, and how you stop it.
- Which macOS permissions it asks for, and why.
- Which of your apps are fully supported, and which are beta.
What stays on your Mac and what leaves it
Stays on your Mac. Your messages, contacts, conversation history and relationship stats (such as health scores) live in a local database and don't sync anywhere. The Spotlight index stays local too. There is no Tera Chat server holding a copy of your inbox.
Syncs through your own iCloud. Settings, AI-generated insights, drafts, dating personas and your AI cost log sync between your Macs through Apple's CloudKit private database, which belongs to your Apple ID.
Leaves your Mac:
- Messages travel directly between your Mac and each service you connect.
- When you use an AI feature, or turn one on, the text of the conversation it works on goes to the AI provider you picked: ChatGPT through the Codex app, or your own Claude (Anthropic) or Grok (xAI) API key.
- On a paid plan with Tera Chat AI, that text goes from your Mac through Tera Chat's server at terachat.co to Anthropic's Claude. The server doesn't store or log it; it only counts how much AI you've used.
- Update checks to updates.terachat.co include the app and macOS versions, and nothing about your messages.
The app has no analytics or telemetry, and you can set a daily AI spending cap.
How reply drafts in your style work
Before it drafts anything, Tera Chat learns how you text. It reads up to 2,000 of your recent sent messages and measures, on your Mac, your common phrases, slang, emoji rate, message length, languages and how you write on each app. It then makes one AI request, with those numbers and a sample of your messages, to write a short description of your texting voice. It needs at least 20 sent messages.
Settings → Twin shows the measurements, the description and the example messages it picked. You can replace the description with your own words and retrain any time.
In a chat, press Option-Command-D (⌥⌘D) to draft a reply, or ask for a few suggestions, and regenerate if the first try misses. Drafts take a different tone for each circle, so your boss and your best friend don't get the same reply. You stay in control: pick a suggestion, edit it, send it.
A new install starts in a safe preview with all sending paused until you resume it. Automations that send for you are opt-in, per service or per chat, with quiet hours, rate limits and an emergency stop. AI can be wrong, so read a draft before you send it.
Summaries and questions about a chat
When you've fallen behind on a long thread, press Shift-Command-S (⇧⌘S). Tera Chat summarizes the last 100 messages of that conversation and keeps the summary in memory only.
"Ask about this chat" answers questions such as "what restaurant did she mention?" The answer is based on the last 50 messages plus facts Tera Chat has already noted about that person. Both features use the AI provider you chose.
What you need
- A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer) running macOS 15 Sequoia or later.
- Full Disk Access, only if you want iMessage.
- Your phone with WhatsApp on it, to link WhatsApp.
- For AI: a ChatGPT account through the Codex app, or a Claude or Grok API key, or a paid plan with AI built in.
You don't need a Tera Chat account; the app works without one.
The app and the unified inbox are free with no time limit. Paid AI plans are optional, billed monthly or yearly, and add built-in AI with no keys to set up. Your first plan starts with a 7-day free trial (one per person), and you need a card to start it. Current plans are on the Tera Chat pricing section.
To try it, download Tera Chat for free at terachat.co. Setup takes about two minutes, and the app updates itself after that.
Questions people ask
How do I get iMessage and WhatsApp in one app on my Mac?
Use a unified inbox that connects to both. In Tera Chat, iMessage appears once you grant Full Disk Access, and WhatsApp joins as a linked device when you scan a QR code with your phone.
Can I read Instagram DMs in a Mac app?
Yes. Sign in to Instagram from Tera Chat's settings, and your Instagram messages appear in the same inbox as iMessage, WhatsApp and Telegram.
Does Tera Chat upload my messages to a server?
No. Your inbox is stored on your Mac, and no Tera Chat server holds a copy. When an AI feature works on a chat, that text goes to the AI provider you picked; Tera Chat AI passes it through terachat.co to Anthropic without storing it.
Is Tera Chat free?
Yes. The Mac app and the unified inbox are free with no time limit. Optional paid plans add built-in AI and start with a 7-day free trial.
Does Tera Chat work on Intel Macs or Windows?
No. It needs Apple silicon (M1 or newer) and macOS 15 or later. There is no Windows, iPhone or web version.