How to export iMessages from a Mac for your lawyer

Before you start

A few minutes of preparation saves you from redoing the export later.

• Make sure the messages are on the Mac. Open Messages on the Mac and scroll back through the conversation. If older messages are missing, turn on Messages in iCloud on both devices: on the iPhone under Settings → your name → iCloud, and on the Mac under Messages → Settings → iMessage. Then give it time to sync.
• Stop messages from being deleted. In Messages → Settings → General, set Keep messages to Forever. Don't delete anything from the conversation, even the parts that seem irrelevant.
• Ask what range your lawyer needs. A complete conversation, or a complete stretch of one, is easier to defend than hand-picked messages.

Step by step

1. Download and open the app. Get Legal Message Export. It's free to download, signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple. It isn't in the Mac App Store because the App Store doesn't allow apps to read the Messages database.
2. Grant Full Disk Access. macOS protects your Messages folder, so the app walks you through enabling it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access. If you'd rather not, you can copy ~/Library/Messages/chat.db (and its Attachments folder) somewhere else yourself and import that copy instead.
3. Import. The app copies your Messages database, never touches the original, and records a SHA-256 fingerprint of the copy. That fingerprint ends up on the cover page of every export. What the SHA-256 hash does.
4. Find the conversation. Browse or search. If the other person texted you from both a phone number and an email address, the app shows it as one conversation. Group chats stay separate.
5. Put names to numbers. Give each phone number or email a name so the transcript reads "Jordan Rivera" rather than "+1 555 555 0142." Add your own name too, so your messages aren't just labeled "Me." The cover page still lists each person's number or email next to their name.
6. Choose what to export. Pick the entire conversation, a date range, or a run of messages between a start and an end point you mark.
7. Set the Bates prefix. Bates numbers identify each page, like SMITH000001. If your lawyer gives you a prefix and a starting number, use theirs. Otherwise your last name works.
8. Decide on the declaration page. This is an optional fill-in-and-sign statement of authenticity. Choose US (28 U.S.C. § 1746), Canadian statutory declaration, UK statement of truth, or generic wording. Don't sign it until your lawyer has seen it.
9. Export and check the PDF. Read it through, check the date range and message count on the cover page, and make sure the photos you expected are there.

Browsing, searching, and reading are free. The PDF export needs a license, and you pay what feels fair, including $0.

What your lawyer receives

The PDF has three parts, in this order, with continuous page numbers and a Bates number on every page:

• Cover page: the participants, the date range, the message count, the Bates range, the source database path, its SHA-256 hash, and the import and export dates.
• Declaration (optional): the statement of authenticity, pre-filled with the hash, the date range, and the message count.
• Transcript: every message with its date, time, and sender. Photos appear inline. Reactions, edits, and unsent messages are marked.

Download the sample PDF to see exactly what it looks like. It's a fabricated conversation, five pages long. A page-by-page walkthrough explains each part.

Things to know

• Time zone. Times are shown in your Mac's current time zone. If the conversation spans a move, or the exact time matters, tell your lawyer which time zone the Mac was set to.
• Videos and voice memos aren't embedded. They're listed by file name, type, and size, so your lawyer knows they exist and can ask for the files.
• Missing photos. If a photo shows up as "not found," the Mac never downloaded it. Opening the conversation in Messages and scrolling to that photo usually fetches it. Then use Refresh in the app.
• Keep what you exported. The app stores each import as a hashed snapshot. Refreshing replaces that snapshot, so if you've already sent a PDF to your lawyer, hold off on refreshing unless you need newer messages. Ask your lawyer whether they want you to preserve the Mac itself, too.
• Only your own conversations. The app reads the Messages database on a Mac you have access to. It doesn't read iCloud directly, and it can't open anyone else's account.

Legal Message Export produces a documented record. It doesn't guarantee that a court will admit it; that's the judge's decision. Rules for evidence and declarations vary by jurisdiction and by court. Talk to your lawyer.