Do you ever wish you had more concrete evidence of things that were said to you over text? Maybe you need to prove a point, settle a dispute, or keep a record of important information.
Whatever the reason, printing out text messages is a great way to keep a hard copy of your conversations, which can come in handy if you ever need to go to court or simply hold someone accountable.
But how do you print out text messages on your iPhone? It’s not as straightforward as you might think. Unlike some other phones, iPhones don’t have a built-in option to print messages directly from the Messages app. However, there are still some ways to do it, depending on how many messages you want to print and whether you want a physical or digital copy.
If you’re an Android user, you can get our Android tips in our article here.
1. Using screenshots
The easiest and quickest way to print out text messages on an iPhone is to take screenshots of the conversation and then print them from the Photos app. This method works well if you only have a few messages to print and you don’t mind having them in an image format. Here’s how to do it:
- Go to the Messages app, and choose the conversation you want to print
- To screenshot the conversation, depending on the type of iPhone you have, click the lock button and the upper volume button at the same time, or on some older iPhones, click the home button and the lock button at the same time.
- Then, go to the Photos app
- Tap the Albums tab, and select Screenshots
- Click Select and tap all of the screenshots that you want to print (a checkmark will appear in a blue circle)
- Then, in the bottom left corner, tap the share button
- Then select Print
- Make sure you have a wireless printer within range and connected to your iPhone, and adjust the settings as you wish
- Tap Print in the upper right, and wait for your messages to be printed
You have successfully printed out text messages on your iPhone using screenshots. However, if you have a lot of messages to print, this method might not be very efficient, as you’ll have to take multiple screenshots and print them one by one. In that case, you might want to try the next method.
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2. Convert text messages to PDF on Mac
One way to save entire text conversations is to convert a chat to PDF from your Mac. However, as you will see by the steps below, if you want to download all of the text messages you’ve had with someone over a long period of time, you may have to do a lot of scrolling back, and then it’s possible the application will quit on you. This process is better for a short-term print/save situation but is somewhat unreliable if you want to go back a long time to print and save your conversations.
- Open the iMessages app on your Mac
- Select the text conversation you want to save by clicking it
- Scroll back to where you want to begin saving your text conversations in the message application (Remember, if you go too far back, it might lock up, so it is better to choose small chunks of conversations)
- Then select File
- Next, choose Print
- Under the word Pages you will be able to see how many pages of text messages you are saving
- From the dropdown menu, select the file type
- Choose to Save as PDF
- Now choose what you want it to Save As, Where you want to save it, also the Title, Author, and Subject
- Then click Save
- You should now have a PDF with your conversation texts and images
MORE: HOW TO USE THE NEW AUDIO MESSAGES FEATURES IN IOS 17
3. Send conversations to a different phone number
Let’s say you don’t have access to a printer, but you still want to copy and export your text thread from your iPhone; you can send it to another number and then print it out later. This is good if you want to share some threads of conversations but not your entire text thread you’ve had with someone for years.
- Launch the iMessage app on your iPhone
- Find the conversation that you want to save and open it
- Tap and hold on to a message bubble in the conversation
- Tap More.. when the menu appears
- Manually select all the messages you want to save by tapping on the circles to the left of the message bubbles
- Tap the Share option at the bottom right of the screen
- Now, choose To whom you want to share the conversation
- Click the up arrow in the green circle to share
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4. Using a third-party app
If you want to save your entire message thread, the best way to print out text messages on an iPhone is to use a third-party app called iMazing. This app allows you to export your messages as a PDF file, which you can then print from your computer or save as a digital copy. This method works well if you have a lot of messages to print and you want them in a text format. Here’s how to do it:
- Go to iMazing, and click Download
- Once downloaded, install the app on your computer, and launch it
- Connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable
- Unlock your iPhone, and tap Trust Device when prompted
- On the sidebar of the app, select your device and then click Messages
- Select the conversation you wish to export by clicking it
- In the top right corner, select from and to which are the dates of the conversations you want to print
- Then click Print
- Adjust the settings as you wish, and make sure you have a printer connected to your computer and then click Print again
Alternatively, if you want to export the messages as a digital copy to save on your computer, you can do the following:
- Follow the same steps as above until step 6
- Instead of clicking Print, click Export to PDF
- Click Next, and choose the name and location of where you want to save the PDF file
- Click Export, and wait for your messages to be exported
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Printing out text messages on an iPhone can be useful for various purposes, such as keeping a record of evidence, documenting important information, or preserving memories. However, it’s not very easy to do it directly from the Messages app, so you’ll need to use some alternative methods, such as taking screenshots or using a third-party app like iMazing.
Have you ever printed out text messages on your iPhone? If so, what was the reason, and which method did you use? Let us know in the comments below.
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