TextboundHow to print text messages for court — complete, exact, from your Mac
When messages matter in a dispute — a divorce or custody case, a landlord, an employer, harassment — screenshots leave gaps: missing times, cut-off threads, pages that look edited. Textbound prints the conversation straight from the Messages history on your Mac: every message with its date, time to the second and sender, in order, with page numbers. Private by design: the messages never leave your Mac.
macOS 14 or later · the Record layout is part of Pro, $19.99 once
What a printout of messages should show
Whoever reads it — your lawyer, the other side, a judge — needs to see the whole exchange and be able to rely on it. A good printout shows:
- Who wrote each message — names, and the phone number or email address behind each name.
- When — the date and time of every message, and the time zone they are shown in.
- Everything, in order — the whole conversation or the whole period, not chosen fragments, with page numbers so nothing can quietly go missing.
- What was attached — photos, videos, voice messages and files, each identified.
- What changed — messages that were edited or unsent, and reactions.
- A way to check it — so no one has to take the printout on trust.
How Textbound's Record layout covers it
| What is needed | In the Record PDF |
|---|---|
| Who | The sender on every row; a cover page listing each participant with their phone number or email address, the dates of the first and last message, the number of messages and the services |
| When | Date and time to the second on every message, as Messages recorded it; the time zone on the cover — choose the case's time zone in Settings |
| Everything, in order | The whole history or the exact dates you choose; “Page x of y” on every page; the service of each message (iMessage, SMS) |
| Attachments | Photos inline, each with its SHA-256; an appendix listing every file. A photo kept only in iCloud is marked “not on this Mac”, never dropped |
| Changes | Edits with their earlier versions, unsent messages marked, reactions with who and when, replies quoted, read times |
| A way to check | A fingerprint of the whole export, calculated from every message, time and file. File › Verify an Export… on the Mac it came from compares every page with Messages and says plainly whether anything differs |
Step by step
- Get the messages onto your Mac. If they are on your iPhone, turn on Messages in iCloud on both (on the Mac: Messages › Settings › iMessage › Enable Messages in iCloud) and let it sync. SMS sync too.
- Open Textbound and allow Full Disk Access once — the only permission that lets an app read the Messages history. Textbound reads it and changes nothing.
- Choose the conversation and the dates your lawyer asked for — or the whole history.
- Choose Record and export the PDF. If the case is in another time zone, choose it first in Textbound › Settings › Times shown in. Add HTML or CSV if your lawyer wants a spreadsheet of every message.
- Print it or send the PDF. Keep the original messages on your devices: don't delete the conversation after exporting.
Honestly: what Textbound doesn't do
- It can't decide what a court accepts. Whether a printout is accepted as evidence depends on the court, the case and the rules where you are. Textbound gives you a complete, exact, checkable record; ask your lawyer how they want it.
- It isn't a forensic examination. When the authenticity of messages is seriously disputed, a court may want a forensic examiner to extract them from the phone itself, with the device's details and a documented chain of custody. That is a professional service, and Textbound doesn't replace it.
- It doesn't recover deleted messages. It exports what Messages on your Mac has.
- It needs a Mac, and the messages on it. Without a Mac, an app that reads an iPhone backup on a Windows PC is the way. For WhatsApp, use the export built into WhatsApp.
Private: your messages go to your lawyer, not to us
A case is exactly when your messages shouldn't pass through a stranger's server. Textbound has no server for them: it reads the history on your Mac, read-only, and writes the PDF on your Mac. No account, no analytics, no crash reports; it works with Wi-Fi off. You decide who gets the file.
Questions
Can I use the PDF in court?
Textbound gives you an exact, complete record — times to the second, senders, attachments with their SHA-256, page numbers and a fingerprint anyone can check. Whether a court accepts it is up to the court and the rules where you are; ask your lawyer.
Are screenshots enough for court?
Sometimes, for a few messages. But screenshots show times only where Messages chooses to, cut long conversations into pieces and are easy to dispute. A printout of the whole conversation with every time and sender is harder to question.
Does the printout show phone numbers?
Yes. The cover lists every participant with their phone number or email address, and every message shows its sender.
How can the other side check it wasn't edited?
Every export carries a fingerprint calculated from all its messages, times and files, and every attachment has its SHA-256. On the Mac the export was made on, File › Verify an Export… makes it again from Messages and compares every page.
Can I export only certain dates?
Yes. Choose any period — exactly the days in question, a year, or the whole history. The cover states the period.
Does my lawyer need the app?
No. The PDF opens anywhere and prints on any printer, in US Letter or A4. The HTML export opens in any browser and the CSV in any spreadsheet.
The whole conversation, exactly as it happened.
Just want to keep a conversation? Read how to export iMessages to PDF.