Guides

How to print text messages from your iPhone

The free ways to print iPhone texts, what each one is good for, and how to print a whole conversation as a book.

Joshua Z

Founder, My Forever Books

Start your iPhone book (Your messages with loved ones. Printed. Protected. Forever.)

Can you print text messages from an iPhone?

Yes, but not from the Messages app itself. iPhone has no print button for conversations, so every method goes through screenshots or a computer. Here are your options:

• A few messages: take screenshots and print them from the Photos app. Free, works on any iPhone.
• A short thread, on paper or as a PDF: open the conversation in Messages on a Mac and print it or save it as a PDF. Free, but needs a Mac and is unreliable for long conversations.
• One important message: copy it into a note or email and print that.
• A whole conversation you want to keep: export it with our free iMessage Exporter and have it printed as a book, with photos, in order.

Table of contents

1. Can you print text messages from an iPhone?
2. Option 1: Print screenshots from your iPhone
3. Option 2: Print or save as PDF from a Mac
4. Option 3: Copy a single message
5. Option 4: Print the whole conversation as a book
6. Which option should you use?
7. Printing texts for a record or court case
8. FAQs

Option 1: Print screenshots from your iPhone

Best for a handful of messages. You need nothing but your phone and, to print, an AirPrint printer or a computer.

1. Open the conversation and scroll to the first message you want.
2. Take a screenshot. On iPhones with Face ID, press the side button and volume up together. On iPhones with a Home button, press the side or top button and the Home button together.
3. Scroll down and take the next screenshot, leaving a little overlap so nothing is missed. Repeat until you reach the end.
4. Open the Photos app, tap Select, and choose your screenshots.
5. Tap the Share button, then Print. Pick your printer and the number of copies.

No AirPrint printer? In the same Share menu, email the screenshots to yourself or save them to Files, then print them from a computer. Screenshots get tedious past a few dozen messages, and the photos inside the thread print as small as they appear on screen.

Option 2: Print or save as PDF from a Mac

If you have a Mac signed in to the same Apple Account as your iPhone, your messages can sync to it, and the Messages app on the Mac can print. It can work well for a short conversation. It is not reliable for long ones, as the warning below explains.

1. On your iPhone, turn on Messages in iCloud: open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, and turn on Messages. The exact menu names vary a little between iOS versions.
2. On your Mac, open Messages, choose Messages, then Settings, then iMessage, and select Enable Messages in iCloud. Give it time to download your history.
3. Open the conversation and scroll up to where you want the printout to start. Messages loads older messages only as you scroll up, so anything you have not scrolled back to may be left out.
4. Choose File, then Print, or press Command and P.
5. Print on paper, or open the PDF menu in the print window and choose Save as PDF for a digital copy.

A warning about long conversations: this often does not work reliably. Messages can freeze or quit while you scroll back through months or years of history, or while it prepares the printout. When it does finish, the result can be incomplete, with messages missing, text cut off at page breaks, and photos replaced by grey boxes. If that happens, try printing a shorter stretch at a time, or use one of the other options here.

If you want a digital copy rather than paper, our guide on how to export text messages from iPhone covers PDFs and computer backups in more detail.

Option 3: Copy a single message

For one message that matters, touch and hold it, tap Copy, and paste it into the Notes or Mail app. You can print from there, or from a computer after you email it to yourself. This copies the words only, without the date or who sent it, so add those yourself if you need them.

Option 4: Print the whole conversation as a book

When the conversation is one you want to keep, reread, or give to someone, loose pages stop being enough. My Forever Books turns the full thread into a bound book that reads like it did on your phone: message bubbles, names, dates, and the photos you sent each other, in order.

I had been looking for a solution to convert my messages into print form as a gift. After searching online, thinking I'd need to cut and paste, I discovered My Forever Books... after receiving my creation last night in printed form, I'm amazed at the super high quality of the finished product.

- Michael J., verified customer

1. Download the iMessage Exporter

Our exporter is free and runs on your Mac or Windows PC. It reads the messages synced to your Mac, or a backup of your iPhone, and your data stays on your computer while it works.

2. Export the conversation

Pick the conversations you want and export them with photos and attachments included.

Good to know: you do not need to break up a long export first. There are no file limits, and if the chat is very long, we split it into neat volumes and label each one by the message dates.

3. Upload and make it yours

Upload the export to My Forever Books. You can edit on your computer or your phone:

• Choose a cover and drag photos and text into place
• Remove messages, fix typos, and add pages of your own
• Add several conversations as chapters of one book
• Voice messages print as QR codes that play the recording
• Preview every page before you order

4. Order and ship

Order when you are happy with the preview. Production and delivery usually take about 1 to 3 weeks, depending on shipping.

See how iPhone books work on the iPhone message book page, or start your book now.

When the love of my life died, I was desperate to preserve our precious text messages. Forever Books made uploading thousands of messages and pictures so simple. The books turned out perfect and are some of my most cherished possessions.

- Kelley B., verified customer

Which option should you use?

Book prices are on the pricing page.

Printing texts for a record or court case

If the printout is for a court, a lawyer, an employer, or an insurance claim, ask whoever needs it which format they accept before you start. In general, a record should show who each message is from and when it was sent, so keep the contact name and dates visible in screenshots, and check any Mac printout page by page for missing messages.

A book from us is a keepsake rather than a record: you can edit messages before it prints, so it is not the right choice when the exact original matters.

Printing from another app?

• How to print text messages from Android
• How to print WhatsApp messages