iPhone text messages for court, without screenshots
A court or a family lawyer needs the whole conversation in order, with visible dates and times, not two hundred screenshots. Upload the Messages database from your Mac or from an unencrypted iPhone backup and get one numbered PDF of the conversation you choose; the first part is free and the whole conversation is $5, paid once.
- Every iMessage and SMS numbered, with sender, date and time, in the time zone printed on the cover
- Photos shown where they were sent; audio messages transcribed word for word
- Reactions, replies, edits and unsent messages marked, so the record is complete
- SHA-256 fingerprint of the uploaded file on the cover
- Up to 10,000 messages for one payment of $5
Why screenshots are a weak record
Screenshots of an iPhone conversation show a few messages at a time, often without the year, and the other side can say that messages in between were left out. A long thread turns into hundreds of images that are hard to put in order and impossible to search.
The iPhone and the Mac keep every message in one database. Read from that database, the conversation becomes one document: every message with its number, sender, date and time, the photos that were part of it, and nothing reordered. A lawyer can cite "messages 412 to 418" and the reader can find them.
Getting the messages off the iPhone
- With a Mac that has Messages in iCloud turned on: compress the folder ~/Library/Messages and upload the .zip. Photos and audio messages come with it.
- With a Windows PC or a Mac: back up the iPhone in the Apple Devices app, iTunes or Finder with "Encrypt local backup" turned off
- In the backup folder, open the subfolder 3d and copy the file 3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28; rename the copy to sms.db and upload it
- Type the phone number or email address of the other person under "Which conversation"
What this is not
NoCutoff does not give legal advice and does not certify documents. The PDF is a readable copy of the Messages database, not a forensic extraction of the phone; messages deleted before the copy was made are not in it. Whether and how messages can be used depends on the court and the country, so ask your lawyer. Keep the uploaded file unchanged: the fingerprint on the cover is only useful as long as that file exists.
How the tool works, what it costs and how your files are handled is on the iMessage to PDF page; prices for every tool are on the pricing page.
Last updated
Questions and answers
Can I print iPhone messages for court without a Mac?
Yes. Make an unencrypted backup of the iPhone on a Windows PC with the Apple Devices app or iTunes, then upload the sms.db file from that backup. Photos and audio messages are then listed by file name; a zipped Messages folder from a Mac includes them.
Is the PDF accepted as evidence?
That depends on the court, the country and how the messages were obtained. The PDF is a complete, numbered record of the database with its fingerprint; your lawyer decides how to use it.
Can I leave out private messages?
Yes. Once the conversation is unlocked, Redact and select on the job page lets you limit the dates, hide phone numbers and email addresses, or leave out messages. Left-out messages are marked as withheld and every other message keeps its number.
Who can see my messages?
Only you. Jobs are private, are not used to train AI models, and can be deleted from your account at any time.