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Messages

Get a message by ID

messages.retrieve(strmessage_id) -> Message
GET/v3/messages/{messageId}

Retrieve a specific message by its ID. This endpoint returns the full message details including text, attachments, reactions, and metadata.

ParametersExpand Collapse
message_id: str
formatuuid
ReturnsExpand Collapse
class Message: …
id: str

Unique identifier for the message

formatuuid
chat_id: str

ID of the chat this message belongs to

formatuuid
created_at: datetime

When the message was created

formatdate-time
is_delivered: bool

Whether the message has been delivered

is_from_me: bool

Whether this message was sent by the authenticated user

is_read: bool

Whether the message has been read

updated_at: datetime

When the message was last updated

formatdate-time
delivered_at: Optional[datetime]

When the message was delivered

formatdate-time
effect: Optional[MessageEffect]

iMessage effect applied to a message (screen or bubble effect)

name: Optional[str]

Name of the effect. Common values:

  • Screen effects: confetti, fireworks, lasers, sparkles, celebration, hearts, love, balloons, happy_birthday, echo, spotlight
  • Bubble effects: slam, loud, gentle, invisible
type: Optional[Literal["screen", "bubble"]]

Type of effect

One of the following:
"screen"
"bubble"
Deprecatedfrom_: Optional[str]

DEPRECATED: Use from_handle instead. Phone number of the message sender.

from_handle: Optional[ChatHandle]

The sender of this message as a full handle object

id: str

Unique identifier for this handle

formatuuid
handle: str

Phone number (E.164) or email address of the participant

joined_at: datetime

When this participant joined the chat

formatdate-time
service: ServiceType

Messaging service type

One of the following:
"iMessage"
"SMS"
"RCS"
is_me: Optional[bool]

Whether this handle belongs to the sender (your phone number)

left_at: Optional[datetime]

When they left (if applicable)

formatdate-time
status: Optional[Literal["active", "left", "removed"]]

Participant status

One of the following:
"active"
"left"
"removed"
parts: Optional[List[Part]]

Message parts in order (text, media, and link)

One of the following:
class TextPartResponse: …

A text message part

reactions: Optional[List[Reaction]]

Reactions on this message part

handle: ChatHandle
id: str

Unique identifier for this handle

formatuuid
handle: str

Phone number (E.164) or email address of the participant

joined_at: datetime

When this participant joined the chat

formatdate-time
service: ServiceType

Messaging service type

One of the following:
"iMessage"
"SMS"
"RCS"
is_me: Optional[bool]

Whether this handle belongs to the sender (your phone number)

left_at: Optional[datetime]

When they left (if applicable)

formatdate-time
status: Optional[Literal["active", "left", "removed"]]

Participant status

One of the following:
"active"
"left"
"removed"
is_me: bool

Whether this reaction is from the current user

type: ReactionType

Type of reaction. Standard iMessage tapbacks are love, like, dislike, laugh, emphasize, question. Custom emoji reactions have type “custom” with the actual emoji in the custom_emoji field. Sticker reactions have type “sticker” with sticker attachment details in the sticker field.

One of the following:
"love"
"like"
"dislike"
"laugh"
"emphasize"
"question"
"custom"
"sticker"
custom_emoji: Optional[str]

Custom emoji if type is “custom”, null otherwise

sticker: Optional[Sticker]

Sticker attachment details when reaction_type is “sticker”. Null for non-sticker reactions.

file_name: Optional[str]

Filename of the sticker

height: Optional[int]

Sticker image height in pixels

mime_type: Optional[str]

MIME type of the sticker image

url: Optional[str]

Presigned URL for downloading the sticker image (expires in 1 hour).

formaturi
width: Optional[int]

Sticker image width in pixels

type: Literal["text"]

Indicates this is a text message part

value: str

The text content

text_decorations: Optional[List[TextDecoration]]

Text decorations applied to character ranges in the value

range: List[int]

Character range [start, end) in the value string where the decoration applies. start is inclusive, end is exclusive. Characters are measured as UTF-16 code units. Most characters count as 1; some emoji count as 2.

animation: Optional[Literal["big", "small", "shake", 5 more]]

Animated text effect to apply. Mutually exclusive with style.

One of the following:
"big"
"small"
"shake"
"nod"
"explode"
"ripple"
"bloom"
"jitter"
style: Optional[Literal["bold", "italic", "strikethrough", "underline"]]

Text style to apply. Mutually exclusive with animation.

One of the following:
"bold"
"italic"
"strikethrough"
"underline"
class MediaPartResponse: …

A media attachment part

id: str

Unique attachment identifier

formatuuid
filename: str

Original filename

mime_type: str

MIME type of the file

reactions: Optional[List[Reaction]]

Reactions on this message part

handle: ChatHandle
id: str

Unique identifier for this handle

formatuuid
handle: str

Phone number (E.164) or email address of the participant

joined_at: datetime

When this participant joined the chat

formatdate-time
service: ServiceType

Messaging service type

One of the following:
"iMessage"
"SMS"
"RCS"
is_me: Optional[bool]

Whether this handle belongs to the sender (your phone number)

left_at: Optional[datetime]

When they left (if applicable)

formatdate-time
status: Optional[Literal["active", "left", "removed"]]

Participant status

One of the following:
"active"
"left"
"removed"
is_me: bool

Whether this reaction is from the current user

type: ReactionType

Type of reaction. Standard iMessage tapbacks are love, like, dislike, laugh, emphasize, question. Custom emoji reactions have type “custom” with the actual emoji in the custom_emoji field. Sticker reactions have type “sticker” with sticker attachment details in the sticker field.

One of the following:
"love"
"like"
"dislike"
"laugh"
"emphasize"
"question"
"custom"
"sticker"
custom_emoji: Optional[str]

Custom emoji if type is “custom”, null otherwise

sticker: Optional[Sticker]

Sticker attachment details when reaction_type is “sticker”. Null for non-sticker reactions.

file_name: Optional[str]

Filename of the sticker

height: Optional[int]

Sticker image height in pixels

mime_type: Optional[str]

MIME type of the sticker image

url: Optional[str]

Presigned URL for downloading the sticker image (expires in 1 hour).

formaturi
width: Optional[int]

Sticker image width in pixels

size_bytes: int

File size in bytes

type: Literal["media"]

Indicates this is a media attachment part

url: str

Presigned URL for downloading the attachment (expires in 1 hour).

formaturi
handle: ChatHandle
id: str

Unique identifier for this handle

formatuuid
handle: str

Phone number (E.164) or email address of the participant

joined_at: datetime

When this participant joined the chat

formatdate-time
service: ServiceType

Messaging service type

One of the following:
"iMessage"
"SMS"
"RCS"
is_me: Optional[bool]

Whether this handle belongs to the sender (your phone number)

left_at: Optional[datetime]

When they left (if applicable)

formatdate-time
status: Optional[Literal["active", "left", "removed"]]

Participant status

One of the following:
"active"
"left"
"removed"
is_me: bool

Whether this reaction is from the current user

type: ReactionType

Type of reaction. Standard iMessage tapbacks are love, like, dislike, laugh, emphasize, question. Custom emoji reactions have type “custom” with the actual emoji in the custom_emoji field. Sticker reactions have type “sticker” with sticker attachment details in the sticker field.

One of the following:
"love"
"like"
"dislike"
"laugh"
"emphasize"
"question"
"custom"
"sticker"
custom_emoji: Optional[str]

Custom emoji if type is “custom”, null otherwise

sticker: Optional[Sticker]

Sticker attachment details when reaction_type is “sticker”. Null for non-sticker reactions.

file_name: Optional[str]

Filename of the sticker

height: Optional[int]

Sticker image height in pixels

mime_type: Optional[str]

MIME type of the sticker image

url: Optional[str]

Presigned URL for downloading the sticker image (expires in 1 hour).

formaturi
width: Optional[int]

Sticker image width in pixels

preferred_service: Optional[ServiceType]

Messaging service type

One of the following:
"iMessage"
"SMS"
"RCS"
read_at: Optional[datetime]

When the message was read

formatdate-time
reply_to: Optional[ReplyTo]

Indicates this message is a threaded reply to another message

message_id: str

The ID of the message to reply to

formatuuid
part_index: Optional[int]

The specific message part to reply to (0-based index). Defaults to 0 (first part) if not provided. Use this when replying to a specific part of a multipart message.

formatint32
minimum0
sent_at: Optional[datetime]

When the message was sent

formatdate-time
service: Optional[ServiceType]

Messaging service type

One of the following:
"iMessage"
"SMS"
"RCS"

Get a message by ID

import os
from linq import LinqAPIV3

client = LinqAPIV3(
    api_key=os.environ.get("LINQ_API_V3_API_KEY"),  # This is the default and can be omitted
)
message = client.messages.retrieve(
    "69a37c7d-af4f-4b5e-af42-e28e98ce873a",
)
print(message.id)
{
  "id": "69a37c7d-af4f-4b5e-af42-e28e98ce873a",
  "chat_id": "94c6bf33-31d9-40e3-a0e9-f94250ecedb9",
  "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "is_delivered": true,
  "is_from_me": true,
  "is_read": false,
  "updated_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "delivered_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:10Z",
  "effect": {
    "name": "confetti",
    "type": "screen"
  },
  "from": "+12052535597",
  "from_handle": {
    "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "handle": "+15551234567",
    "joined_at": "2025-05-21T15:30:00.000-05:00",
    "service": "iMessage",
    "is_me": false,
    "left_at": "2019-12-27T18:11:19.117Z",
    "status": "active"
  },
  "parts": [
    {
      "reactions": [
        {
          "handle": {
            "id": "69a37c7d-af4f-4b5e-af42-e28e98ce873a",
            "handle": "+15551234567",
            "joined_at": "2025-05-21T15:30:00.000-05:00",
            "service": "iMessage",
            "is_me": false,
            "left_at": "2019-12-27T18:11:19.117Z",
            "status": "active"
          },
          "is_me": false,
          "type": "love",
          "custom_emoji": null,
          "sticker": {
            "file_name": "sticker.png",
            "height": 420,
            "mime_type": "image/png",
            "url": "https://cdn.linqapp.com/attachments/a1b2c3d4/sticker.png?signature=...",
            "width": 420
          }
        }
      ],
      "type": "text",
      "value": "Hello!",
      "text_decorations": [
        {
          "range": [
            0,
            5
          ],
          "animation": "shake",
          "style": "bold"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "preferred_service": "iMessage",
  "read_at": "2024-01-15T10:35:00Z",
  "reply_to": {
    "message_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "part_index": 0
  },
  "sent_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:05Z",
  "service": "iMessage"
}
{
  "error": {
    "status": 401,
    "code": 2004,
    "message": "Unauthorized - missing or invalid authentication token"
  },
  "success": false
}
{
  "error": {
    "status": 403,
    "code": 2005,
    "message": "Access denied - insufficient permissions for this resource"
  },
  "success": false
}
{
  "error": {
    "status": 404,
    "code": 2001,
    "message": "Resource not found"
  },
  "success": false
}
{
  "error": {
    "status": 500,
    "code": 3006,
    "message": "Internal server error"
  },
  "success": false
}
Returns Examples
{
  "id": "69a37c7d-af4f-4b5e-af42-e28e98ce873a",
  "chat_id": "94c6bf33-31d9-40e3-a0e9-f94250ecedb9",
  "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "is_delivered": true,
  "is_from_me": true,
  "is_read": false,
  "updated_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "delivered_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:10Z",
  "effect": {
    "name": "confetti",
    "type": "screen"
  },
  "from": "+12052535597",
  "from_handle": {
    "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "handle": "+15551234567",
    "joined_at": "2025-05-21T15:30:00.000-05:00",
    "service": "iMessage",
    "is_me": false,
    "left_at": "2019-12-27T18:11:19.117Z",
    "status": "active"
  },
  "parts": [
    {
      "reactions": [
        {
          "handle": {
            "id": "69a37c7d-af4f-4b5e-af42-e28e98ce873a",
            "handle": "+15551234567",
            "joined_at": "2025-05-21T15:30:00.000-05:00",
            "service": "iMessage",
            "is_me": false,
            "left_at": "2019-12-27T18:11:19.117Z",
            "status": "active"
          },
          "is_me": false,
          "type": "love",
          "custom_emoji": null,
          "sticker": {
            "file_name": "sticker.png",
            "height": 420,
            "mime_type": "image/png",
            "url": "https://cdn.linqapp.com/attachments/a1b2c3d4/sticker.png?signature=...",
            "width": 420
          }
        }
      ],
      "type": "text",
      "value": "Hello!",
      "text_decorations": [
        {
          "range": [
            0,
            5
          ],
          "animation": "shake",
          "style": "bold"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "preferred_service": "iMessage",
  "read_at": "2024-01-15T10:35:00Z",
  "reply_to": {
    "message_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "part_index": 0
  },
  "sent_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:05Z",
  "service": "iMessage"
}
{
  "error": {
    "status": 401,
    "code": 2004,
    "message": "Unauthorized - missing or invalid authentication token"
  },
  "success": false
}
{
  "error": {
    "status": 403,
    "code": 2005,
    "message": "Access denied - insufficient permissions for this resource"
  },
  "success": false
}
{
  "error": {
    "status": 404,
    "code": 2001,
    "message": "Resource not found"
  },
  "success": false
}
{
  "error": {
    "status": 500,
    "code": 3006,
    "message": "Internal server error"
  },
  "success": false
}
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