• Debian 9.6 x64

Updated - 2019-07-17
wget https://github.com/xeals/signal-back/releases/download/v0.1.7-alpha.2/signal-back_linux_amd64 -O signal-back_linux_amd64
chmod +x signal-back_linux_amd64
./signal-back_linux_amd64 format -f XML -o output.xml signal-2019-07-02-07-31-08.backup
cat /root/2019-07-02-Texts-2/output.xml | /root/node_modules/xml2json/bin/xml2json > /root/2019-07-02-Texts-2/output.json
cat output.json | jq '.smses.count'
cat output.json | jq '.smses.sms[1800].readable_date'
for i in {1984..2200}; do cat output.json | jq ".smses.sms[$i].address, .smses.sms[$i].type, .smses.sms[$i].readable_date, .smses.sms[$i].body" >> signal-sms.txt; echo "" >> signal-sms.txt; echo "$i" ; done
for i in {100..150}; do cat output.json | jq ".smses.mms[$i].address, .smses.mms[$i].readable_date" >> signal-mms.txt; echo "" >> signal-mms.txt; echo "$i" ; done

The below commands:

  1. Adds NodeSource's repo to your aptitude repository
  2. Refreshes the aptitude repository
  3. Installs the apps below:
  4. NodeJS - for npm
  5. xml2json - to convert the signal-back XML to JSON
  6. jq - to process the JSON array
  7. Downloads signal-back (0.1.7 Alpha, latest as of 08Dec2018)
  8. Marks the file executable


apt-get install -y nodejs jq curl build-essential
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_11.x | bash -
apt-get update
apt-get install -y nodejs jq curl
npm install xml2json
wget -O signal-back_linux_amd64 https://github.com/xeals/signal-back/releases/download/v0.1.7-alpha.2/signal-back_linux_amd64
chmod +x signal-back_linux_amd64

cat /root/2019-06-07/signal/signal.xml | /root/node_modules/xml2json/bin/xml2json > /root/2019-06-07/signal/signal.json cat signal.json | jq '.smses.count' for i in {0..2069}; do cat signal.json | jq ".smses.sms[$i].address, .smses.sms[$i].type, .smses.sms[$i].readable_date, .smses.sms[$i].body" >> export.txt; echo "" >> export.txt; echo "$i" ; done

Sources:

  • https://github.com/xeals/signal-back
  • https://github.com/Inist-CNRS/node-xml2json-command
  • https://github.com/nodesource/distributions

Signal's possible commands, the CSV format has epoc/UNIX time. It was easier for me to iterate through the XML using jq to get the readable_date field.

  • ./signal-back_linux_amd64 format -f CSV -o backup.csv signal-[Date-Time].backup
  • ./signal-back_linux_amd64 format -f XML -o signal.xml signal-[Date-Time].backup

Use this to get how many arrays / rows you have: cat signal.json | jq '.smses.count'

Use the below to iterate through the JSON file and get the address, type (2 is sent, 1 is received), body, and date:

for i in {0..3750}; do cat signal.json | jq ".smses.sms[$i].address, .smses.sms[$i].type, .smses.sms[$i].body, .smses.sms[$i].readable_date" >> export.txt; echo "" >> export.txt; echo "$i" ; done

for i in {0..91}; do cat signal.json | jq ".smses.mms[$i].address, .smses.mms[$i].readable_date"  >> mms.txt; echo "" >> sms.txt; echo "$i" ; done

Snapchat: Have to edit the JSON to be "From" and "Sent". And "= a2 - (6/24)" for timezone conversion.

for i in {0..1205}; do cat chat_history.json | jq ".Sent[$i].To,.Sent[$i].MediaType,.Sent[$i].Created" >> snap_sent.txt; echo "" >> snap_sent.txt; echo "$i"; done

for i in {0..1096}; do cat chat_history.json | jq ".Received[$i].From,.Received[$i].MediaType,.Received[$i].Created" >> snap_received.txt; echo "" >> snap_received.txt; echo "$i"; done

For the Snapchats themselves:

for i in {0..1102}; do cat snap_history.json | jq ".Received[$i].From,.Received[$i].MediaType,.Received[$i].Created" >> snap_history_received.txt; echo "" >> snap_history_received.txt; echo "$i"; done

for i in {0..1634}; do cat snap_history.json | jq ".Sent[$i].To,.Sent[$i].MediaType,.Sent[$i].Created" >> snap_history_sent.txt; echo "" >> snap_history_sent.txt; echo "$i"; done

The below is old information

signal-back_windows_amd64.exe format -f XML signal-XXX.backup > backup.xml

  1. Take that XML output to https://www.browserling.com/tools/xml-to-json
  2. I threw the JSON into NotePad++, found all columns in this document, and copied to a spreadsheet
  3. "Text to Columns" as needed

I'm sure there is a way to parse the JSON with "jq" but I couldn't figure it out. I needed to do this versus CSV, because the repo doesn't have the real date, but has "uint64."

Update 06August2018:

Install xml2json from GitHub, then run the command below:

cat backup.xml | xml2json > backup.json

Run these JQ Commands (updated 02Sep2018):

for i in {0..1690}; do cat backup.json | jq ".smses.sms[$i]._address, .smses.sms[$i]._type, .smses.sms[$i]._readable_date" >> export.txt ; echo "" >> export.txt; done; echo "done"
cat backup.json | jq '.smses.sms | length'
for i in {0..2450}; do cat backup.json | jq ".smses.sms[$i].\"@address\", .smses.sms[$i].\"@type\", .smses.sms[$i].\"@readable_date\"" >> export.txt; echo "" >> export.txt; done

More Updates as sometimes the above doesn't work; 1 is received:

cat backup.json | jq '.smses.sms' | grep 'status' | wc for i in {0..2873}; do cat backup.json | jq ".smses.sms[$i].address, .smses.sms[$i].type, .smses.sms[$i].readable_date" >> export.txt; echo "" >> export.txt; done

Convert from UTC in Excel:

=B3 + (10 / 24)

Sources: