Back up the iPhone to your computer, open the backup in OpenExtract (free), export the conversation as a PDF, and print it. You can also export an HTML or text file and print that. You get the whole thread, with the date, time and sender of every message, not a pile of screenshots. Whether a court accepts it is up to the court and the attorneys.
On the iPhone itself you can screenshot a thread or forward a few messages, but forwarded messages lose their dates and times. For a long conversation that means dozens of screenshots, and screenshots often cut off the dates. A computer backup holds the whole conversation, so the printout can too.
This page isn't legal advice. OpenExtract makes a printable record. It doesn't certify or authenticate anything. If you have a case, ask your attorney, or the court's self-help center if you don't have one, what format they need. Some cases call for a forensic examiner rather than a printout you make yourself.
Plug the iPhone into your computer with a cable and tap Trust on the phone if it asks. On a Mac, open Finder and click the iPhone in the sidebar. On Windows, open the Apple Devices app or iTunes. Choose to back up to this computer and click Back Up Now. You can tick Encrypt local backup for a fuller backup; just write the password down. OpenExtract can also make the backup for you, from its start screen.
Free for Mac (Apple Silicon), Windows 10 and 11, and Linux. Download it here. No account, no trial, no card.
On OpenExtract's start screen, choose to open a backup you already have, and pick the backup folder. On a Mac it's ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup, which is hidden: press Cmd+Shift+G in the window that opens and paste that path. If OpenExtract asks for Full Disk Access, follow its steps. On Windows it's %USERPROFILE%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup, or %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup if that isn't there. If the folder holds more than one backup, it shows each one with the device name and date so you can choose. If the backup is encrypted, type the password you set. It stays on your computer.
Open Messages. Type a name or number in the search box at the top to narrow the list of conversations, then click the one you need to read it. iMessage, SMS and group chats are all there.
Click Save conversation at the top right, choose PDF, HTML or plain text, and click Save. Then pick a folder. PDF and HTML look like a chat, with the sender's name above each message you received, and both show the photos. A text file starts each message on a new line, with its timestamp and the sender ("me" for your own messages). The file is named after the conversation and the dates it covers.
Open the PDF and print it, or send the file as it is. An HTML file prints from your web browser with Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on a Mac), and a text file prints from Notepad or TextEdit the same way.
+00:00 means), for example 2026-01-01T03:00:00.512345+00:00 (the digits after the dot are fractions of a second). It isn't local time, so it can differ from the times the phone and the app show, sometimes by a day: this one is 7 PM on December 31 in California. If you quote a time, convert it and say which time zone you mean.Will a court accept this printout? We can't tell you that. It depends on the court, the case and the rules where you are, and the judge and attorneys decide. Ask your attorney or the court clerk what they want before you print.
Does it show the date and time of each message? Yes. Every message on the printout has its own date and time, in UTC (the +00:00 at the end), not local time. Convert it to the time zone you mean before you quote a time.
Can I print iMessages and SMS texts, and group chats? Yes, all three. Group chats show who sent each message.
Will the other person know I printed our messages? No. OpenExtract reads a backup that's already on your computer and contacts no one.
Does it change the backup? No. It only reads the backup. Keep the original backup folder as it is, in case someone asks for it later.
Is it really free? Yes. OpenExtract is open source under the MIT license, with no paid tier, no account and no strings attached. The code is on GitHub.
OpenExtract runs on your own computer. No account, nothing uploaded.