How Long Does Signal Keep Messages — and Can Deleted Signal Messages Be Recovered for Court?
Reviewed by Jacob Reed, founder of Verity ·
Short answer
Signal keeps no readable copy of your messages: they live only on your phone and linked computers until someone deletes them or a disappearing timer (up to 4 weeks) runs out. The sender can delete a message for everyone within 24 hours. Signal can't hand messages to a court, so save the chat from your own phone now.
Signal is built so that no one but the people in a chat ever holds the messages, Signal included. For a court case that means your phone is the only record. Here is what lasts, what deleting does, and how to keep a copy.
How long does Signal keep messages?
On Signal’s servers
Only while a message waits to be delivered, and encrypted so Signal can’t read it. Signal’s terms say your message history is stored on your own devices.
On your phone and linked computers
Until someone deletes it or a disappearing-message timer runs out. Deleting “for me” removes a message from that one device; each device is cleared separately.
In a Signal backup
Signal’s Secure Backups (on every platform since September 2026) make a new encrypted backup every 24 hours and remove the previous one. The free tier keeps your text messages (up to 100 MiB) and the last 45 days of media. Backups leave out view-once messages and messages set to disappear within 24 hours, and can only be opened with a 64-character recovery key.
What happens when a Signal message is deleted?
Delete for everyone
Works on messages you sent in the past 24 hours, on every device that received them. Signal calls it a best effort, and quoted replies to the message are not deleted.
Disappearing messages
Anyone in the chat can turn on a timer, from preset times up to a custom time of 4 weeks. It applies only to messages sent after it is set. A sent message’s timer starts when it is sent; a received one’s starts when it is read. When time is up the message is deleted from the device.
Delete for me and clearing a chat
These work one device at a time. Only delete for everyone reaches the other person’s phone.
Turning disappearing messages off only affects messages sent afterwards. Messages already sent with a timer still disappear on schedule, so save them before they go.
Can deleted Signal messages be recovered?
Not from Signal. Where a deleted message can still exist:
- Another device in the chat, if it was deleted only “for me” somewhere else, or if delete for everyone didn't reach it.
- A quoted reply, which delete for everyone leaves in place.
- A backup made before the deletion, unless the message was set to disappear within 24 hours.
- Screenshots and photos of the screen taken before it went.
Using disappearing messages or deleting your own side once a case is likely can be treated as destroying evidence; see auto-deleting apps and spoliation and deleting texts during a custody case.
How do you save a Signal chat for court?
1.Check the chat for a timer first
Open the chat. A timer icon in the header, or a countdown under each message, means disappearing messages are on and older messages will go when their time is up. Save those first.
2.Screenshot or photograph the conversation
Signal has no button that exports a chat. Take screenshots that show the other person’s name and the dates, scrolling in order, or photograph the screen with another device. Keep the originals; don’t crop them.
3.Keep the phone and turn on backups
Don’t clear the chat or reinstall Signal. Turn on Signal’s backup so a lost or broken phone doesn’t take the history with it, and write the recovery key down somewhere safe.
4.Don’t start a timer yourself
Setting disappearing messages, or deleting your own messages, once a case is likely can look like hiding evidence.
5.Tell your lawyer what was deleted
Keep a dated note of any message that disappeared and what it said. Your lawyer can ask the other side to preserve their phone.
Other ways to get a Signal conversation out, and when a forensic examiner is worth it, are in saving Signal messages for court. If you end up with a stack of screenshots, see organizing screenshots for your lawyer.
Can a lawyer get Signal messages from Signal?
No. Signal's terms say it cannot decrypt or access the content of messages or calls, and its page of government requests says it doesn't have messages, calls, profile or group information, or contacts. The data it has handed over in answer to subpoenas is the date and time an account was registered and the last date it connected. In a custody or divorce case, the messages come from the phones of the people in the chat; see how discovery of the other parent's messages works.
Can Verity read a Signal chat?
From screenshots, yes. Verity reads chat screenshots in your browser without uploading them, lets you check and correct every message, then numbers them in date order and flags patterns such as threats and gaslighting. Times read from screenshots are marked as approximate.
Common questions
Can deleted Signal messages be recovered?
Not from Signal, which never had a readable copy. A message may still be on another device in the chat, in a backup made before it was deleted (if it wasn’t set to disappear within 24 hours), or in a screenshot.
Can the other person delete my Signal messages?
They can delete messages they sent within the past 24 hours for everyone, and anyone in the chat can turn on disappearing messages for messages sent from then on. They can’t delete older messages from your phone.
Do disappearing messages stop the other person keeping a copy?
No. Signal’s own help page says disappearing messages are not meant for chats where the other person is an adversary, because anyone who wants a record can photograph the screen before a message goes.
Can a lawyer subpoena Signal for messages?
Signal publishes every request it has answered. It says it doesn’t have messages, calls, contacts or group information, and the data it has handed over is the date an account was created and the last date it connected. In a family case, the messages come from the phones of the people in the chat.
Other apps work differently: see how long WhatsApp keeps messages, how long Telegram keeps messages and how long Viber keeps messages.
Signal pages cited
Read on October 31, 2026. Signal changes these features; check before you rely on them.
- Delete for everyone (Signal Support)
- Delete messages, alerts, or chats (Signal Support)
- Set and manage disappearing messages (Signal Support)
- Signal Terms and Privacy Policy
- Government requests answered by Signal
- Introducing Signal Secure Backups (Signal blog)
- Backup improvements (Signal blog)
This is general information, not legal advice. Verity is not a law firm and is not affiliated with Signal. Ask your attorney what your case needs. If you are in danger, call 911; the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233.
Have screenshots of the chat?
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