Kept Texts / Guides

How to Export iPhone Text Messages to PDF

Short answer

Kept Texts turns a whole Messages conversation into one PDF on your iPhone: every text with its sender, date and time, both sides, numbered. Apple's Shortcuts app hands Kept Texts the chat after you allow it, so the words and times are exact.

The cover of a Kept Texts PDF, listing who is in it, the dates and where it came from.
The cover says who's in the record, the dates it covers and where it came from.

Steps

  1. Open Kept Texts and tap Make a Record, then Messages. The first time, tap Add Kept's Shortcut and add it in Apple's Shortcuts app; you only do this once. Then tap Choose a Chat, pick the conversation in Shortcuts, and choose Always Allow when Apple asks (a few times, the first run). Shortcuts hands over every text with its exact words and time, and Kept Texts keeps only the chat you picked.
  2. Check anything Kept Texts marked, then preview the whole PDF for free.
  3. Save, print or share it with a pass. Print sends it straight to a printer.

What you get

  • A cover with who, when and where the record came from.
  • Every text, numbered, with who sent it and its exact time.
  • Page numbers on every page, and real text you can search and copy.
  • A list of anything you changed, always included.
  • A fingerprint page, if you want one: a code worked out from the texts exactly as Messages handed them over, before you changed anything.

What isn't in it

  • Texts deleted earlier, or never downloaded to this iPhone from iCloud.
  • Photos and files. Their places are marked, so you can see where each one was.
  • Earlier versions of edited texts. An edited text shows its final words.
  • Group chats. For now, Kept Texts makes records of chats with one other person.

Questions

Can I export an entire iMessage conversation?

Yes. Set Texts From to Any Time, and Kept Texts' shortcut hands over every text of that chat that's on your iPhone. A month of texts took under a minute in testing; years take longer.

Are my texts uploaded anywhere?

No. Kept Texts has no account and does everything on your iPhone. Your texts and records never leave it unless you share them.

Is it free?

It's free to make, check and preview your whole PDF. A pass to save, print and share costs $9.99 for 30 days or $29.99 for a year, and never renews.

See what you'll get

Kept Texts is coming soon to the App Store, for iPhone with iOS 26 or later. It's free to make, check and preview your whole PDF. A pass to save, print and share costs $9.99 for 30 days or $29.99 for a year, and never renews.

See a sample PDFComing soon to the App Store

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Updated November 13, 2026.