How to Get Text Message Records From Verizon
Reviewed by Jacob Reed, founder of Verity ·
Short answer
Sign in to the My Verizon app or verizon.com and download the usage details for your line. They list each text's date, time, other number and direction, but not what it said, and they leave out iMessages and chat messages sent over data. The words are on the phones, so export the conversation from your phone and keep the Verizon log alongside it.
People usually look for this when texts matter in a dispute and the phone has been lost, wiped or replaced. Verizon keeps the record that a text happened, and the words only for a few days. That record is still worth downloading, as long as you know what it can and can't show.
How do you download your Verizon text records?
1.Sign in to your Verizon account
Sign in to the My Verizon app or verizon.com. On a family plan, the account owner (or an account manager) usually sees every line; if the account isn't yours, the owner may need to download the records for you.
2.Find the usage details for texts
Look under your account or usage for the call and message logs (Verizon has called them "text logs"). Choose the line and the billing period, then the text messages view.
3.Download every billing period you can reach
Save or print each period as a PDF or spreadsheet, starting with the oldest one still shown. Older periods drop off the account over time, so download them now rather than when you need them.
4.Ask Verizon for anything older
If you need records from before what the account shows, contact Verizon customer care and ask how to request your own line's records. Records for someone else's line go through the court instead.
5.Keep the logs with the conversation itself
File the logs next to an export or screenshots of the actual messages. The log shows when texts were exchanged; the export shows what they said.
Verizon renames these pages from time to time. If you can't find them, customer care can tell you where your usage details are and how far back your account shows them.
Can Verizon give you the content of your texts?
Generally no. A 2010 Department of Justice retention chart listed Verizon as keeping the content of a text for only 3 to 5 days, and text message detail (who texted whom, and when) for one rolling year. Practices may have changed since, but no major carrier offers customers a copy of their message text. Federal law also limits what a carrier may disclose in a civil case, so a subpoena usually returns the log, not the words. Our post on subpoenaing Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile covers that in more detail.
Which messages won't be in the Verizon log?
Only texts that travel as ordinary text and picture messages show up. These usually don't:
- iMessages between iPhones (blue bubbles), which go over the internet rather than as texts
- chat messages between Android phones using RCS (Google Messages or Samsung chat features)
- WhatsApp, Messenger, Signal and other messaging apps
So a short or empty log doesn't mean there were no messages. It may just mean they went by one of those routes.
What are the logs good for?
- showing that texts were exchanged on certain dates, when someone says they never heard from you
- showing how often and at what hours messages came in, for example dozens in one night
- backing up the dates in a screenshot or export with a record that came from the carrier
Where are the actual words?
On the phones that sent and received them, and in those phones' backups. Export the conversation from your own phone:
- iPhone: exporting iMessage, or saving a conversation without a computer
- Android: printing Android texts or exporting Samsung Messages
- Other apps: our export guides
For the general picture across carriers, see can I get my text messages from my phone carrier?
Can Verity read a Verizon log?
Not on its own. Verity looks at what the messages say and how the conversation goes, so it needs the messages themselves: an export from the phone or screenshots of the thread. A carrier log has no message text, so it's best kept as a separate piece alongside the conversation. Whatever file you upload is read in your browser and is not uploaded.
This is general information, not legal advice. Verity is not a law firm and is not affiliated with Verizon. Ask your attorney what records your case needs and how to get them.
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