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Print text messages for court from an Android phone

Screenshots of texts leave gaps and invite questions. Back up your messages with SMS Backup and Restore, upload the file, and print one dated transcript of the whole conversation.

How it works.

A lot of tools in this space are built for iPhone. This one reads the Android backup file from SMS Backup and Restore. That app can print one conversation at a time itself, and its developer says the online viewer can struggle with very large backups full of MMS media. This turns the whole backup into one dated document.

Step 1

Back up with SMS Backup and Restore

It is an Android app, free with ads. Run a backup of your messages and it saves an XML file on your phone or to a cloud account like Google Drive. If you use the paid version with encryption turned on, make an unencrypted backup for this.

Step 2

Upload the XML

Drop the file here. If it is very large, that is normal when MMS media is stored inside it.

Step 3

Check it, then download

You see your messages parsed first, for free. The PDF shows sent and received on opposite sides, with dates. MMS pictures can be included too, which is an optional extra priced before you pay.

Four ways to print it.

Every sample below is page one of a real PDF, made from the same sample as the one above by the same code that makes your file. Pick a style when you preview, and change it as often as you like.

A page of the sample transcript in the Text message look style — **Text message look**Light blue bubbles for what was sent and grey for what came in, like Android’s Messages app.

A page of the sample transcript in the Clean document style — **Clean document**Plain and readable, made for paper. The safe choice if you are not sure.

A page of the sample transcript in the Formal / legal style — **Formal / legal**Numbered entries and full timestamps, for a hearing or a claim. No colour, so it photocopies.

A page of the sample transcript in the Book style — **Book**Set like a printed book, for binding or keeping. Warm paper, wide margins.

Step by step

Install SMS Backup and Restore on the Android phone that has the messages. It is free with ads.
Run a backup of your messages. It saves an XML file to the phone or to a cloud account like Google Drive. If you use encryption in the paid version, make an unencrypted backup for this.
Upload the XML here. The preview shows your conversations, dated, for free.
Download the PDF and print it. Sent and received messages sit on opposite sides with the date and time on each.

A note for iPhone users

This tool reads the Android backup file. It does not read iPhone messages. If your messages are on an iPhone, ask your lawyer what they want; for WhatsApp chats on any phone, use WhatsApp messages for court.

Whatever the phone, keep the original backup file unchanged. The printout is an accurate reformat of it, not a certified copy. What a court accepts is for your lawyer or the court office to confirm.

People also use this for

Text messages to PDF, the full tool page

Trust, with receipts.

No invented review scores, no badges, no “trusted by thousands”. Here is what is actually true, and you can check every line of it.

You see the result before you payUpload, look at your own parsed file, then decide. No account, no card, no email required to get that far.
Files are deleted within 7 daysYour upload, anything extracted from it, and the finished download. Automatically, on a schedule.
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Questions, answered.

Can I print just one conversation?

The backup holds all your conversations and the PDF is one dated document. You can print the pages you need from it.

Are picture messages included?

MMS pictures can be included as an optional extra, priced in the preview before you pay.

Can I add the printout to a bundle?

Yes. The evidence pack and court bundle tools add an index, page numbers and labels to a set of documents.

Is my data kept?

Your backup and the PDF are deleted within 7 days.