John
Are you currently in a litigation battle where you are required to provide SMS or iMessage conversations as physical evidence? Or you want to reference a particular text message in a research paper/assignment? If you need to print out text messages from an iPhone into physical copies but don’t know how to get it done, you’re on the right page. In this guide, we’ll show you five different ways to print text messages from iPhone. Let’s get to it.
Method 1: Print Text Messages from iPhone Using Screenshot
This is one of the easiest ways to print text messages from iPhone. Simply launch the Messages app, open the text you want to print, and simultaneously tap the Power button and the Volume-up keys. This applies to iPhones that support Face ID.
For iPhones with a physical home button or Touch ID, taking screenshots follows a different approach. Simply tap the Side button and the Home button at the same time to capture the text message. Proceed to the steps below to learn how to print out text messages from iPhone via the captured screenshots.
Step 1: Launch the Photos app and select open the screenshot containing the text message.
Step 2: Tap the Share icon at the bottom-left corner and select Print from the context menu.
On the next page, select a printer as well as the number of copies to be printed, and tap Print to proceed.
To print multiple screenshots/pages, return to the Photos menu, tap the Select button at the top-right corner, and select the screenshots to proceed.
Next, tap the Share icon and select Print from the context menu. Choose a connected printer and select the number of copies, then hit Print to proceed.
Note: With this method, you can only print photos & documents from your iPhone to an AirPrint-enabled printer. Find a list of AirPrint-enabled printer models on this list compiled by Apple.
Using screenshots to print text messages from iPhone is easy and quite convenient. Screenshots also capture important information like date, time, delivery status, etc. However, some limitations make this method less efficient. Say you need to print about 50 text messages, for example, this means you have to take 50 different screenshots. Quite stressful and time-consuming, right? Likewise, if the text(s) you want to print is quite lengthy, this also translates to multiple screenshots.
Method 2: Print iPhone Text Messages using Email
This method isn’t exactly more convenient than the above, but it’s also a valid workaround to printing text messages from iPhone. This entails copying and pasting the content of the conversation from the Messages apps to your email app. To print the email directly from your iPhone might require an AirPrint-enabled printer (for the Mail app) or a Google Cloud Print-enabled printer (for the Gmail app).
Before you proceed, we recommend that you read this guide to learn how to set up an AirPrint printer on your iPhone. Likewise, this detailed guide will walk you through the process of setting up a Google Cloud Print printer on an iOS device. Now, let’s see how to print text messages from iPhone using email.
Launch the Messages app and open the text/conversation you want to print. Tap and hold the text you want to copy and select Copy from the context menu.
Note: You can only copy one text at a time. Copying multiple texts simultaneously isn’t supported.
For Mail App
Step 1: Now launch the Mail app and tap the compose message icon at the bottom-left corner.
Step 2: Enter your email address in the recipient address section and paste as many messages you want to print. Send the mail when you’re done.
You should receive the mail in your inbox within seconds.
Step 3: Open the email and tap the Share button.
Step 4: On the share menu, select Print.
Step 5: Tap the Printer option to connect your iPhone to an AirPrint-enabled printer. Select the number of copies to be printed and tap Print.
For Gmail
If Gmail is the preferred or default email app on your iPhone, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Launch the Gmail app and tap the Compose button.
Step 2: Enter your email address in the recipient field and paste the copied text messages. Hit the Send button.
Step 3: Return to the inbox section and open the email containing the text message you want to print.
Step 4: Next, tap the three-dotted menu icon and select Print.
Step 5: Select the preferred wireless printing technology that your printer supports (AirPrint or Google Cloud Print) and proceed to print the text message.
If you don’t have a printer supporting either AirPrint or Google Cloud Print, you can open and print the mail on/from your computer. As mentioned earlier, this is a valid workaround to (indirectly) print iPhone messages. However, there are some downsides. First, it is time-consuming. Secondly, copied messages printed via email do not carry important metadata like date and time information, delivery status, etc.
Method 3: Print Text Messages from iPhone with Tenorshare UltData
Tenorshare boasts of a great collection of tools that lets you efficiently manage your iPhone’s data. Tenorshare UltData is a brilliant example. Primarily, UltData is a comprehensive iPhone data recovery tool that allows iOS users to recover missing or deleted data, fix common iOS system issues and more. With the software, you can also backup and recover deleted texts from iPhone. UltData is a PC software, and it can be used on computers running the Windows OS and macOS. One major advantage of using UltData to print text messages from your iPhone is that the messages are printed with the necessary metadata (date, time, etc.) You can also export attachments like photos, videos, audio, and other documents.
The software also lets you simultaneously print multiple texts and multiple conversations at the click of a button. And all you need is a computer, your iPhone, and a USB cable. Let’s show you how to print messages from iPhone using the Tenorshare UltData. Before you proceed, make sure you have Tenorshare Ultdata installed on your computer.
Step 1: Connect your iPhone to the PC using a USB lightning cable. If prompted to ‘Trust This Computer,’ make sure you grant the PC access to your device’s data.
Step 2: Launch UltData on your PC, and on the homepage, tap the ‘Recover Data from iOS Devices’ card.
Step 3: Check ‘Messages & Attachments’ and leave all other options unchecked. Tap Scan to proceed.
UltData will scan and analyze the text messages on your iPhone. This might take a minute. Meanwhile, keep your device connected to the computer.
Step 4: In the Messages section, select the conversation(s) you want to export/print.
You can also select and export specific messages within the conversations.
When you’re done with the selection, tap the ‘Recover to Mac’ or ‘Recover to Windows’ button to export the selected conversations/messages to your computer.
UltData will create a PDF document containing the exported text messages so you can easily print them on paper.
Also Read: Tenorshare UltData Review
Method 4: Print Text Messages from iPhone with AnyTrans
AnyTrans is another brilliant tool that lets you easily print text messages from iPhone. It is available for both Windows and Mac computers. Like UltData, AnyTrans is also a versatile iPhone manager software that allows iOS users to manage and migrate over 27 data types (media files, documents, etc.) from one device to another at the click of a button. As a plus, you also enjoy other features like Screen Mirroring, Custom Ringtone Maker, App Manager/Downloader, etc.
Here’s how to print out text messages from iPhone to hard copies in PDF format using AnyTrans.
Step 1: Connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable.
Step 2: Launch the AnyTrans and wait for the app to detect your iPhone. On the homepage, select Messages.
You’ll be prompted to backup your device to give the app access to your iPhone’s messages.
Step 3: Tap the ‘Back Up Now’ button to proceed.
AnyTrans will analyze your device information and make a backup of your data (this might take a couple of minutes, though). So, be patient and make sure your device is connected to your computer all through.
Step 4: Upon completion of the backup process, you should now be able to access your iPhone’s text messages as well as their attachments on the Messages interface of the AnyTrans. Select the conversations you want to print and tap the Print icon at the top-right corner of the app.
Step 5: Tap the Printer drop-down button and select a printer connected to your computer. You can also select the number of copies to print.
Step 6: Alternatively, you can tap the PDF drop-down button and select ‘Save as PDF’ to save the text messages in a PDF file to a directory on your computer.
Step 7: Finally, name the exported text message, select the location on your PC where you want it saved, and click the Save button.
Now you can print the saved text messages (in PDF) like every other document.
Also Read: AnyTrans Review
Methods 5: Contact Your Phone Carrier to Request a Copy of Text Message History
The above methods and tools are proven ways to print text messages from iPhone to other devices or hard-copy documents. However, there are some instances where a court, an organization, or a corporation will only accept text messages printed officially by your service provider or mobile carrier as authentic copies. This is particularly common in legal settings and institutions.
To request a printed copy of your text message history, you’d have to reach out to your network provider via phone call or in writing. If your phone carrier doesn’t have a physical office address, you can reach out to them via social media pages or website. It is worth noting that compared to the methods and tools mentioned above, this is the most time-consuming of them all. It could take days, weeks, or sometimes, months to get a favorable response from your phone carrier. You should also know that some carriers won’t provide you with printed copies of your text messages if certain regulations, policies, or laws restrict them from doing so.
Conclusion
At this juncture, we hope we’ve been able to provide answers to your ‘How do I print text messages from my iPhone?’ question and other related queries. Printing text messages using screenshots and via email are quite time-consuming. On the other hand, the tools provided in the sections above are fast, free, efficient, easy to use and install. Both Tenorshare UltData and AnyTrans have their unique properties. However, Tenorshare UltData is more versatile in that it lets you select, export, and print individual messages within a conversation. AnyTrans lets you print messages directly within the program, but it doesn’t support micro-selection of texts; it prints all the messages in a conversation.
