How-To

How to Get Text Message Records From Cricket or Metro by T-Mobile

Reviewed by Jacob Reed, founder of Verity · Published Oct 24, 2026

Short answer

Prepaid accounts show less than monthly plans. Metro's app shows recent usage, and 90 days of call details with its Call History add-on. Cricket's support has said call records need a subpoena and cost a fee. Carrier records show numbers and dates, not the words, so export the conversation from your phone and keep any log alongside it.

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Cricket is AT&T's prepaid brand and Metro is T-Mobile's, but their accounts don't show what an AT&T or T-Mobile monthly plan does. Here is what each one offers, from the carriers' own pages, and what to do when the account comes up short.

Metro by T-Mobile

In the myMetro app, open the My Account menu, choose Account History, pick the line, and open Usage History to see recent usage. Call History, in the same place, lets you search by date and download the list, but Metro's help page says it covers the past 90 days and that call details are not displayed without its Call History add-on. Metro recommends a computer for the download.

For texts, the picture is mixed. Metro's terms say prepaid customers won't have access to detailed usage records, while T-Mobile's privacy FAQ says Metro customers can view call, text and data usage history by signing in and choosing a bill cycle. Look at what your account shows, save it, and ask Metro about anything you can't find. T-Mobile's privacy center also takes requests for a copy of the personal data it holds about you.

Cricket Wireless

Asked on Cricket's own support community how to get phone records for a line on the account, Cricket replied that it takes a subpoena asking for the records, and that there is a fee. Plan on that route for anything you can't see in your account.

Current customers can also ask Cricket for a copy of the personal information it and AT&T hold about them: in My Account, the privacy section of the account settings has an access request. Cricket's privacy notice says these requests are generally free; it doesn't say whether the copy includes call and text logs.

As for what the records contain: describing call and text records taken in a data breach, Cricket said they identified the other phone numbers and counted the calls and texts, and did not include the content of any call or text.

How do you get your records, step by step?

1.Download what your account already shows

Sign in to the carrier’s app or website, open the usage or account history for your line, and save everything it shows. Prepaid history is short, so do it now rather than when you need it.

2.Ask customer care how far back your line goes

Ask what records exist for your own line, how far back they go, and whether there is a fee. Write down who you spoke to and when.

3.Ask for a copy of your personal data

Both carriers take privacy requests for a copy of the personal information they hold about you. Cricket says these requests are generally free; neither page we read says whether the copy includes call and text logs.

4.Use a subpoena for anything else

Older records, or records for someone else’s line, go through the court: a lawyer (or you, if you represent yourself) has the carrier subpoenaed.

5.Keep the logs with the conversation itself

A carrier log shows that texts were exchanged and when. The words are on the phones, so export the conversation and file the log next to it.

On Boost Mobile, Straight Talk or another prepaid carrier, take the same steps in the same order: the usage page in the app first, then customer care, then a subpoena for whatever is left. Our post on subpoenaing a carrier for text messages explains what a subpoena usually returns.

Which messages won't be in any carrier log?

Only ordinary text and picture messages go through the carrier. These usually don't:

iMessages between iPhones (blue bubbles)
chat messages between Android phones using RCS (Google Messages or Samsung chat features)
WhatsApp, Messenger, Signal and other messaging apps

A short or empty log doesn't mean there were no messages.

Where are the actual words?

On the phones that sent and received them, and in their backups. Export the conversation from your phone:

iPhone: saving a conversation without a computer, or exporting iMessage with one
Android: printing Android texts or exporting Samsung Messages
Other apps: our export guides

On AT&T or T-Mobile monthly plans instead, see AT&T text records and T-Mobile text records.

Can Verity read a carrier log?

Not on its own. Verity needs the messages themselves: an export from the phone or screenshots of the thread. It reads them in your browser without uploading them, numbers every message in date order, and flags patterns such as threats and message flooding. Keep the carrier log as a separate piece next to it.

Carrier pages cited

Read on October 24, 2026. Carriers rename these pages and change their add-ons; check before you rely on them.

This is general information, not legal advice. Verity is not a law firm and is not affiliated with Cricket, AT&T, Metro by T-Mobile or T-Mobile. Ask your attorney what records your case needs and how to get them.

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