Is There a Website to Get My Text Messages Ready for Court?
Reviewed by Jacob Reed, founder of Verity ·
Short answer
Yes, several. “Ready for court” means the whole conversation, with each message's sender, date and time, in order, made from an export you keep unchanged. With an iPhone and a computer, iMazing exports to PDF. TextPort says its iPhone app makes a PDF on the phone. TextTimeline turns an export you upload into a $9 transcript or a $49 evidence report. Verity reads your export or screenshots in your browser without uploading them, shows every message numbered for free, and makes a numbered PDF for $19. Ask your lawyer which format they want.
The right tool depends on the phone you have, whether you can borrow a computer, and how comfortable you are handing months of private messages to a company's server. Here is what each one needs and where your messages go.
What does “ready for court” mean?
- The whole conversation, not a few cut-out messages. The other side will ask what came before and after.
- Who sent each message, and when, with the date and time on every one.
- In order, with numbers or page numbers, so your lawyer and the judge can point to “message 1,482”.
- The original kept. Save the export file unchanged and keep the phone. If the messages are questioned, that is how they are checked; see how texts are authenticated.
- Nothing edited or cropped, including your own messages. Courts read both sides.
Start from what you have
An iPhone and no computer
The iPhone has no button that exports a whole conversation. Take overlapping screenshots with the times showing (step by step), then let Verity read them back into one conversation that you check line by line; times read from screenshots are marked approximate. TextPort says its iPhone app makes a PDF on the phone itself.
An iPhone and a Mac or Windows computer
Get the full history with every exact time: on a Mac, the Messages database (how); on Windows, through an iPhone backup (how). Verity reads the database or the exported file; iMazing exports to PDF itself.
An Android phone
Everything can be done on the phone. Make a backup with SMS Backup & Restore (how), then open getverity.report in the phone's browser and pick the backup file. Samsung users: this guide.
WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram or Telegram
Each app has its own export: WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, Telegram, or pick your app.
OurFamilyWizard or TalkingParents
Their own records are made for court. Download the OurFamilyWizard message report or the TalkingParents record and keep the PDF as it came.
Websites and apps that do it, compared
From each tool's own site, checked October 23, 2026. Prices change; check before you buy.
iMazing
- What you need
- A Mac or Windows computer and the phone
- Your messages
- Read on your computer by a desktop app
- Cost
- Paid desktop app (see imazing.com)
TextPort
- What you need
- Its iPhone app (it says no cable or Mac is needed); Mac and Windows versions too
- Your messages
- Its court page does not say whether messages are processed on the phone or sent to its servers
- Cost
- Listed on its site as free
TextTimeline
- What you need
- A website; an iPhone needs a computer once to get the messages out
- Your messages
- You upload the export; it says the file is processed and then deleted, and an encrypted search index is kept about 30 days
- Cost
- Free to upload and search; $9 transcript PDF, $49 evidence report
Verity
- What you need
- Any phone or computer browser; reads exports and screenshots
- Your messages
- Read in your browser; not uploaded (you can test this, below)
- Cost
- Free preview and every message on screen, numbered; $19 numbered PDF; $99 / $149 pattern reports
Side-by-side pages: iMazing vs. Verity, TextPort vs. Verity, TextTimeline vs. Verity, and more.
How can you tell if a website uploads your messages?
Try this with any tool, ours included. Open the page and let it load, then turn on airplane mode (or switch off Wi-Fi and mobile data) and run it. If it still works, the work is happening on your own phone or computer. If it stops or spins, your messages were going to be sent somewhere.
Verity's free check and its whole-conversation analysis keep working offline; the page even tells you so. Only paying for a PDF needs the internet. The steps are on our security page.
What should you give your lawyer?
- The numbered conversation as a PDF, in date order.
- The original export file, untouched, or the screenshots exactly as you took them.
- A one-page timeline that points to the messages that matter by number (how to write one).
Ask first how they want it sent; some firms have a portal, others want a link or a USB drive.
Where does Verity fit?
Drop in your export or pick screenshots, and Verity reads them in your browser. Free: every message on screen, numbered in date order and searchable, plus a preview of the patterns it found, such as threats, gaslighting and blame-shifting, with one flagged message in full. The $19 option is a PDF of every message numbered in date order, with a fingerprint of the original export file. The $99 Standard and $149 Detailed reports add the flagged messages, quoted and dated and grouped by pattern. One-time prices, no account.
This is general information, not legal advice, and Verity is not a law firm. Rules on evidence differ by state and by judge; ask your lawyer or your court's self-help center how to present messages. If you are in danger, call 911; the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233.
Number every message in your conversation
See a sample first, or drop in your export for a free preview. It is read in your browser and is not uploaded.