Can text messages be used in court, and how are they authenticated?

Yes. Text messages are used as evidence in divorce, custody, employment, housing and harassment cases every day. The side that offers them usually has to show they are what they claim to be, typically who sent them and when, and the other side can ask for the rest of the conversation if parts were left out. The rules differ between countries and states, so your lawyer decides how to present them; here is what usually matters, and how to prepare a complete record on a Mac.

Updated November 2, 2026

macOS 14 or later · the Record layout is part of Pro, $19.99 once

What courts look for

• Who sent it. The phone number or email address behind each name, and someone who can say the number belongs to that person.
• When. The date and time of each message, and the time zone they are shown in.
• The whole exchange. The messages around the ones that matter, in order, so nobody can say a reply was cut out.
• No changes. Edits and unsent messages shown as such, attachments identified, and a way to check that the printout matches the messages.

In US federal courts, for example, Rule 901 of the Federal Rules of Evidence asks for evidence “sufficient to support a finding that the item is what the proponent claims it is.” Usually that is the testimony of someone who took part in the conversation, backed by the details above. When authenticity is seriously disputed, a court may want the phone itself examined by a forensic examiner.

Why screenshots get challenged

A screenshot shows the time only where Messages chooses to, cuts a long conversation into pieces, and hides the sender's number behind a contact name you can rename. Fake chat screenshots are easy to make, and judges and opposing lawyers know it. Screenshots are still used, especially for a few messages, but a complete, numbered record of the whole conversation leaves far less room for doubt.

How to prepare a complete record from your Mac

1. Get the messages onto your Mac: turn on Messages in iCloud on the iPhone and on the Mac (Messages › Settings › iMessage › Enable Messages in iCloud) and let it sync.
2. Open Textbound and allow Full Disk Access once, so it can read the Messages history. It reads it without changing anything.
3. Pick the conversation and the dates your lawyer asked for. If the case is in another time zone, choose it first in Textbound › Settings › Times shown in.
4. Export with the Record layout. Each message gets a row with its date, its time to the second, the sender and the service (iMessage, SMS or RCS). Read times, reactions, edits with their earlier versions and unsent messages are shown too. Every page says “Page x of y”, and the cover lists every participant with their number or email.
5. When the export finishes, Textbound shows two codes; keep both. The fingerprint identifies the messages, and it is printed in the PDF too. The SHA-256 identifies the file: it changes if even one byte of the file changes.
6. Keep the original messages and the phone. Don't delete the conversation after exporting.

How someone can check the record

Every attachment in a Record PDF has its SHA-256 next to it and in an appendix, and the whole export has a fingerprint calculated from every message, time and file. On the Mac the export was made on, File › Verify an Export… (⇧⌘V) makes the export again from Messages and compares every page: it says whether the PDF was changed after export, or whether the messages on the Mac no longer match. Anyone else can check that a file is the one you sent by its SHA-256 (on a Mac, in Terminal: shasum -a 256 followed by the file).

What Textbound doesn't do

• It doesn't decide what a court accepts. That depends on the court, the case and the rules where you are. Ask your lawyer how they want the messages.
• It isn't a forensic examination of the phone, with the device's details and a documented chain of custody. That is a professional service.
• It doesn't recover deleted messages. It exports what Messages on your Mac has. A message deleted in the last 30 days may still be in Recently Deleted in Messages.
• It reads Messages only: iMessage, SMS and RCS. Other messaging apps have their own export.

Your messages stay with you while you prepare all this: Textbound reads them on your Mac, has no account, and sends nothing anywhere.

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