Brief is two apps. The Mac app does the reading — iMessage only lives on your Mac. The iPhone app is where you review what it caught. Both are free to install, and Brief's free tier stays useful — see pricing for the paid plans.
Brief sits in your menu bar and scans on a schedule. It's signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without a warning. On first launch it walks you through granting Full Disk Access — the one permission macOS offers before any app can read Messages.
Version 1.2.7 · 7.7 MB · signed & notarized (Developer ID)
The iPhone app is where the queue lives — review what Brief caught, then send it to Reminders or Calendar in a tap.
Free on the App Store · iOS 17+
Use the same account on your Mac and your iPhone — that's what links them. Then open the Mac app and hit Scan Now. The first scan takes a minute or two; after that Brief runs on its own schedule and your phone fills up with only the things that matter.
That's the whole setup. If something doesn't work, email hello@justbriefme.app — it reaches a human, and we usually reply within a day.
Brief is honest about its requirements — it genuinely needs both devices.
A fair question. Here's the whole answer.
Full Disk Access is the only permission macOS offers for reading Messages. It's a wider door than Brief needs — Brief reads Messages, nothing else. Prefer it airtight? Sandbox Brief in its own macOS account.
If you would rather not extend that trust, you do not have to. Create a second macOS user account, sign it into your Apple ID, and run Brief there. macOS keeps permissions per account, so Brief in that account structurally cannot see the files in your main one. Not because it chooses not to — because it cannot.
What it costs. That second account has your full iMessage history. If your concern is Brief, this helps. If your concern is another person with access to your Mac, it creates a second door to your messages. Only you know which of those you are actually worried about.