One of the best Mac OS X tools in my arsenal of iPhone utilities is Ecamm Network’s PhoneView, which lets you retrieve your call history, export contacts, play and save voice memos, search and save SMS messages, play and export music, download photos, and create, edit, and save notes. It even lets you use your iPhone as a disk drive.
Now an update to Phoneview has added three new key features that make the app even more useful.
The first new features let you retrieve MMS messages and view them later on your computer. (The previous versions only handled SMS messages.)
Second, you can now export, play back, and archive audio files sent via MMS.
Third, the application now automatically downloads and archive your Visual Voicemail messages. You can then take those messages and export them to AAC files, giving you a way to save an important message from a loved one or for any other reason. (You may enjoy those corny-but-cute messages left by your kids to share with them when they grow up.)
PhoneView’s update also includes a handful of bug fixes and is free for current owners. It costs $20 and supports any iPhone or iPod Touch and requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later and iTunes 8.1 or later.
A demo can be downloaded to try before you buy.