How to Export Samsung Messages for Court
Reviewed by Jacob Reed, founder of Verity ·
Short answer
Samsung Messages has no export button, and Samsung Cloud and Smart Switch backups only restore to another Galaxy phone; they aren't files you can read. To get the texts out, back them up with the free SMS Backup & Restore app, which saves every conversation with its dates and times to an XML file. For a short exchange, scrolling screenshots also work.
Samsung is the most common Android phone in the US, and for years its phones came with Samsung's own texting app rather than Google's. That app is good for texting but has no way to save a conversation as a document, so people looking for “export” usually end up in Samsung's backup settings, which are the wrong tool for this.
Why don't Samsung's own backups work for this?
Samsung Cloud and Smart Switch are built to move your data to another Galaxy phone. Their backups are meant to be restored, not read: you can't open one and see a conversation, and you can't hand one to an attorney. They are worth having so the messages aren't lost, but they aren't a record of the conversation.
How do you export the messages?
1.Check which texting app you use
Open the conversation and look at the app. Samsung Messages has Samsung's blue speech-bubble icon; many newer Galaxy phones use Google Messages instead. If you're on Google Messages, our Google Messages guide also applies.
2.Install SMS Backup & Restore
Get the free app by SyncTech from the Play Store. It reads text messages from the phone itself rather than from the texting app, so it works on Samsung phones whichever app you use.
3.Run a backup of your messages
Open the app, set up a backup with Messages turned on, and choose where to save it: the phone, Google Drive or another cloud folder. If the app asks to become the default SMS app during the backup or a restore, it is safe to switch back to Samsung Messages afterwards.
4.Find the XML file
The backup is an XML file whose name starts with "sms-" and the date. It contains every conversation on the phone with the date, time and direction of each message. Picture messages are stored inside it, so it can be large.
5.Check the conversation is complete
Compare the backup with the phone for the conversation you need: look at the first and last messages and a few in between. Chats sent with Samsung's chat features (shown as chat messages rather than text messages) are kept differently on some phones, so make sure they came through. If some are missing, screenshot that part as well.
6.Keep the original file untouched
Make a copy to work from and keep the original exactly as the app saved it. Don't open and re-save it in another program.
What do you do with the XML file?
The file holds every conversation on the phone and isn't meant to be read by people. Verity reads it in your browser without uploading it: it lists the contacts in the backup, you pick the one conversation, and you get a free preview of the patterns in it. The paid reports add a PDF with every message in that conversation numbered in date order, which is what attorneys usually want in place of a pile of screenshots. See how to open an SMS Backup & Restore file for other ways to read it.
What if you only need a few messages?
Take a screenshot in the conversation, then tap the scroll capture button (two downward arrows) in the toolbar that appears, and keep tapping it to extend the screenshot down the thread. Keep the name or number at the top and the date headers in view. To make one document, select the screenshots in Gallery, choose Print, and save as PDF. Our guide to printing Android texts for court goes through it step by step.
What if the texts are in another app?
If the conversation happened in WhatsApp, Messenger or a co-parenting app, use that app's own export instead; SMS Backup & Restore only covers text and picture messages. Each one is covered in our export guides.
Keep the phone and don't delete the conversation after exporting it. If anyone questions the export, the original messages are what it gets checked against.
This is general information, not legal advice. Verity is not a law firm, and what a court accepts as a record of text messages varies. Ask your attorney or the court clerk what your case needs.
Already have your backup file?
Upload the SMS Backup & Restore XML and get a free preview in minutes. The file is read in your browser and is not uploaded.
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