How to Print Text Messages for Court | iPhone and Android

How to Print Your Text Message Conversations

Keeping a backup of your text messages is simple enough, however, you might have some text message conversations that you need to print out and keep on paper, and use this either as evidence in court or simply in your personal archive.

This article covers a couple of great tools that you'll need to print messages from your iPhone or Android phone with all the information about the messages at hand: sent messages, received messages, contact's name and number, dates and times, emojis and images.

Quick Jump to:

Printing Texts from iPhone

Printing Texts from Android

Extra: Print a few messages using device screenshots >

TouchCopy is an app for PC or Mac which you can use to access and copy any content from iPhones, iPads and iPods (there's no limit to the number of mobile devices that you can use with one TouchCopy license).

Using TouchCopy, you can access any SMS, MMS, iMessage, WhatsApp and LINE conversations from your connected iPhone. Then, you can save your conversations to your computer, or print them out!

To print out iPhone text messages for court, follow these steps...

1. Download and install TouchCopy on your computer.
2. Run TouchCopy and connect your iPhone.
3. Click the "Messages" tab and locate the contact whose conversation you wish to print.
4. Click the contact's name to view that conversation.
5. Hit "Print".

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Accessing Messages from different apps

The image above shows an iPhone message conversation displayed in TouchCopy. To browse between iMessage/SMS, WhatsApp and LINE conversations, use the feature bar on the left of TouchCopy for Windows, or scroll down the list of conversations in TouchCopy for Mac to find those relevant sections.

Printing a specific portion of a conversation

If you only require certain messages, rather than an entire conversation, you can set date ranges in TouchCopy to select and print only messages between certain dates.

What is included in the printout?

TouchCopy will display and print your messages in a familiar way as shown on your iPhone and includes all message data including: the contact's name/number, dates/times messages were sent/received, and any emojis or images in the message. As such, all information needed will be printed with your messages.

Watch our video to learn how to print messages with TouchCopy.

How to save text messages from iPhone to computer

If you aren't ready to print your messages or would otherwise like to have them safely saved to your PC or Mac, you can export them using TouchCopy.

To do this, simply connect your iPhone with TouchCopy, access a conversation you want to save, and then choose to export as PDF, HTML or Plain Text.

Check out our full guide on how to save text messages from iPhone to computer >

For copying or printing messages from an Android phone, we'll need Droid Transfer.

Droid Transfer can access your Android device's data and copy it to your PC or print it out. The software can find any SMS or MMS message conversations on your device, save them to your PC, or print them out.

To print text messages from Android, follow these steps...

1. Download Droid Transfer on your PC and run it.
2. Get the free Transfer Companion App on your Android phone.
3. Scan the Droid Transfer QR code with the Transfer Companion App.
4. The computer and phone are now linked. Click "Messages" in Droid Transfer to view all your Android messages.
5. Select a conversation and click "Print"!

Printing specific parts of a conversation

If you don't want to print an entire conversation, you can even set date ranges in Droid Transfer to select and print only messages between certain dates.

What is included in the printout?

Droid Transfer will print all message data including: the contact's name or number (or both!), the date and time the message was sent or received, and any emojis or images included in the message. Conveniently, printed message data is presented in a familiar way, similar to that displayed on your phone.

Watch our video to learn how to print messages with Droid Transfer.

How to save text messages from Android to PC

As well as providing the ability to print your messages, you can also use Droid Transfer to save your text messages to your computer.

To do this, connect your Android with Droid Transfer, select the conversation you want to save, and then export as PDF, HTML or Plain Text.

For a full guide, check out how to save text messages from Android to computer >

The methods covered above are the best ways to print messages from iPhone or Android. They are efficient (quick and easy to print many conversations), accurate (they print all the relevant information and media) and professional (they are printed in a clean and recognizable way).

However, if you only need a few messages printed out you could simply use screenshots of the messages on your device.

The steps required to accomplish this are slightly different from device to device, but we'll cover the majority below.

Print out screenshots of your iPhone messages

1. Launch the Messages app on your iPhone.
2. Open the conversation you need to print and scroll to the portion you need.
3. Take a screenshot.
   • iPhone X and later: Press and hold both the right-side button and the volume up button at the same time.
   • iPhone 8 and earlier: Press and hold both the power button and the home button at the same time.
4. Open the Photos app on your iPhone and select your screenshot (you can select multiple photos by tapping "Select", and then tapping your desired screenshots).
5. Tap the "Send" icon, then send the screenshot/s to your email address.
6. Now you can open the email on your computer and print out the attached images!

Check out our guide if you wish to view your iPhone messages on your computer, rather than on your iPhone.

Print out screenshots of your Android messages

1. Launch the Messaging app on your Android.
2. Open the conversation you need to print and scroll to the portion you need.
3. Take a screenshot.
   • Press the Power button for a few seconds. Then tap Screenshot.
   • If that doesn't work, press and hold the Power and Volume down buttons at the same time for a few seconds.
4. Open the Photos app on your Android > tap the menu icon > tap "device folders" > open the "Screenshots" album.
5. Select your screenshot (enable multiple selections by tapping and holding a screenshot. You can now tap multiple screenshots to select them).
6. Tap the "Share" icon, then send the screenshot/s to your email address (using the Gmail or Email app).
7. Now you can open the email on your computer and print out the attached screenshot!

Those of you who need to print iMessages, text messages and WhatsApp conversations as evidence in a court case, might be wondering if messages can be used as evidence in court. Please note that although we have been told by our customers that they have successfully used TouchCopy and Droid Transfer to print messages and present them as evidence in court, we don't have access to details of any such cases or any involvement with any of the cases. Additionally, Wide Angle Software cannot guarantee the forensic accuracy of any data recovered while using our products.

Thank you for reading!