Export iMessage as legal evidence

Text messages are used more and more as documentation — in court, insurance disputes, workplace claims and family cases. This guide shows how to produce an iMessage export that is orderly, complete and verifiable.

What a good export must contain

• Complete message stream — no gaps or missing days.
• Clear senders, timestamps and timezone.
• Attachments (images, video, audio) where present.
• Checksums that prove the content is unchanged since export.

How to produce the evidence pack

1. Open iexport.app and import chat.db.
2. Pick the conversation and the relevant period.
3. Choose the Pro plan to include the evidence pack.
4. Download the ZIP: PDF, HTML, JSON, CSV and manifest.
5. Share it with counsel. Checksums verify with any standard tool.

What iExport does not guarantee

iExport produces a technically verifiable file. Whether a particular court or counterparty accepts it depends on jurisdiction and procedural rules. Talk to your lawyer about formal requirements.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Screenshots alone — easily challenged.
• Hand-edited printouts without checksums.
• Exports missing metadata (timezone, sender ID).