How to print Android text messages for court

Before you start

You need the Android phone that contains the messages and SMS Backup installed. Allow the message access requested during setup, then check that the conversation you want appears in the app before purchasing Premium.

SMS and MMS export depends on the messages accessible on your device. RCS availability varies by phone and messaging setup. The app cannot recover messages deleted before the export, and this guide does not cover iPhone or WhatsApp conversations.

Check your court’s rules first

Each court, and sometimes each courtroom, sets its own rules for exhibits, and they differ more than you might expect. Two California examples:

• Placer County Superior Court’s guide for restraining order hearings (October 2024) says the court will not look at evidence on your phone. Text messages must be brought in a form, such as printed out, that can be marked as an exhibit and left with the court. It asks for four copies, and the other party gets theirs before the hearing.
• One Fresno County courtroom’s exhibit rules for eviction trials (October 2021) ask for three sets of copies, and ask you not to number or otherwise mark the pages.

Before you export, find out from your court’s instructions or your lawyer:

• what form exhibits must take, and whether messages on a phone are accepted;
• how many copies to bring, and when and how to give them to the court and the other party, including for a remote hearing;
• whether pages may carry page numbers or other markings;
• how messages are shown to be genuine.

That last point matters because a well-formatted PDF does not prove who wrote a message. Under rules such as Federal Rule of Evidence 901, the party offering evidence shows it is what they say it is, for example through testimony of someone who knows, or through details in the messages themselves. That is the federal rule; state courts have their own versions.

Whatever the rules, it helps to export the messages around the ones that matter, so they can be read in context, with who sent each message and when. Legal export prints the sender and time on every message. The free PDF dates groups of messages, not each one.

Step 1

Select the conversations you need

Open Conversations and select the thread you want to export. You can select more than one. Tap Export selected; the number in parentheses shows how many conversations you selected.

The Export conversations sheet lets you choose the format and options for those conversations. Check the selection count before continuing, especially if you only need one thread.

Step 2

Choose PDF or Legal export

Choose PDF for a readable conversation document you can print or share, at no cost. Choose Legal export when you want the additional document details shown in the court-ready sample; it is part of Premium.

If you choose Legal export and do not have Premium, the app will prompt you to upgrade. You do not need Premium just to print a standard PDF.

Cover sheet

Message pages

Step 3

Set the date range and export details

Tap Date range to choose the period you want to include. Leave All messages selected to export the full available conversation, or use Reset to all messages to clear a filter. Date filtering is available with the free PDF option too.

Choose a period that includes the surrounding conversation you need to review. After exporting, check that the first and last messages match the period you intended.

With Legal export selected, Export details lets you optionally add a Case or matter reference, Custodian name, Custodian phone number and Bates prefix, and append a certification page. The custodian is the person whose phone the messages came from. The app prints these details as entered; it does not verify them. Leave fields blank if you do not need them or do not know what to enter.

If you also need the original photos, videos or audio files, review Include attachment files, a Premium option. A printed PDF cannot play video or audio, so check the exported files as well as the document when those attachments matter.

Step 4

Export and review the PDF

Tap Start export and wait for Export complete. Read any notice about skipped messages before using the result.

Open Backups, select the export you just created, and open the conversation’s PDF. Review the sender information, timestamps, date range and page sequence. Check any attachment notes and confirm that the messages you expected are present.

The Share action in the completion dialog shares the backup ZIP. To send just the PDF, open that PDF first and use Share in its viewer.

grep -v '^#' 'Alex Carter.manifest.txt' | shasum -a 256
shasum -a 256 'Alex Carter.pdf'

Step 5

Print it, or send it to your lawyer

With the PDF open in the app’s viewer, choose Print. Android’s print dialog lets you select a printer and adjust settings such as paper size and page range. Check the preview before printing.

Setting up a printer, printing without one and what to check in the preview are covered in how to print text messages from Android.

Sending the messages to your lawyer

• Send the PDF itself. Use Share in the PDF viewer to email it or save it to Google Drive. A PDF keeps every page and stays searchable; screenshots of it do not.
• Include the verification file. With Legal export, sharing the PDF does not include its .manifest.txt verification file. In Backups, open the export and tap ⋮ next to the .manifest.txt file, then Share or Save to…. Keep both originals unchanged yourself.
• Keep a copy outside the app. Exports are stored inside the app, and Android deletes an app’s files when it is uninstalled. In Backups, open the export, tap ⋮ next to a file and choose Save to… to keep it in your phone’s files or in Google Drive.
• Keep the original messages. Do not delete the conversation after exporting it. Your lawyer may want the phone or the messages themselves later.