If you have text messages related to litigation that you need to get off of your phone to respond to discovery requests or as evidence in trial, here are a few ideas on how you can do this:
Software for Text Messages
There are several ways to get text messages related to litigation off your phone. The traditional method is to take a screenshot of the text messages and then scroll through the text messages taking screenshots until you have captured the entire conversation. There are certain limitations to this method as you can miss text messages and/or the dates may not be visible.
With this in mind, it is recommended that you use a program to remove the text messages from your phone. These programs can create a simple PDF document that includes all of the text messages, dates, times, etc. For your convenience, a program that works with iPhone text messages is Decipher Text. A similar program for Andriod phones is Mighty Text. You can also use any other program you are aware of to remove the text messages. If you have issues using any of these programs, please contact the support for that product.
Screenshots
- Please go to the relevant text messages on your phone and create a screenshot (Instructions for iPhone, Android, Windows). It is helpful if the screenshots slightly overlap and if they are taken in order so as to help keep the information organized.
- After you have obtained all of the screenshots, go to the Sharefile or Dropbox link we provide and click on the blue “Upload Files” button.
- When your browser loads, click on “Choose Files” and
- (iPhone) select your photo library as the source.
- (Android) select Documents to view your photo library
- Browse through your photos and select the screenshots of the text messages you took in the previous steps.
- Click Done. (Please note it may take a few moments to upload).
- Once all of the photos have uploaded, enter your and email address and click on the blue button to “Upload.”
This same process (beginning with step 2) can be used to upload any other photos or videos stored on your phone. Additionally, if someone else has documents, photos, or videos related to the case, you can forward them the link, and they can upload documents in a similar fashion. That person will not have access to any documents you have uploaded and will only be able to add documents to the file.
