How to Print Messages from Messenger on iPhone

If your iPhone is all you have, screen-record the Messenger chat and TextPort turns it into a dated PDF you can print. For a short exchange, screenshots do the job.

Why not use Meta's own download? In December 2023, Meta began turning on end-to-end encryption for personal Messenger chats, so only the people in the chat can read them. And Meta's download for encrypted chats only works on a computer.

How do I download encrypted Messenger chats?

On a computer. Meta's help page on encrypted chats says, "Downloading your data from end-to-end encrypted chats is currently only available on a computer." Here are Meta's steps:

1. Open facebook.com and click Messenger in the top right.
2. Next to Chats, click Options.
3. Click Chat history, then Last backup, then Download chat backup.

You get every encrypted message and attachment in one download, not one chat ready to print. Need one chat on paper, and no computer? Record it with TextPort.

How do I turn a Messenger chat into a PDF without a computer?

You record your screen while you scroll through the chat in Messenger, and TextPort reads the messages from the video. All you need is your iPhone: no computer, no cable.

1. Open TextPort and tap Add Chat.
2. Tap the app name at the top and pick Messenger.
3. Tap On Your iPhone, then Start Screen Recording, then Start Broadcast.
4. Switch to Messenger, open the chat, and go to where you want it to start.
5. Scroll down slowly, from oldest to newest. Keep each message on screen for about a second.
6. Go back to TextPort and tap Stop Recording. Trim the video so it starts and ends on the chat, then tap Start Processing.

The recorder stops by itself after 15 minutes, so a long chat takes two recordings. The Scroll Capture guide has every step with pictures.

TextPort turns the recording into real text: each message with who sent it and the date and time. Read it through before you export. You can fix a name, a time or a misread word, or delete messages you don't need. Then export a PDF with searchable text, or tap Print.

Your first three conversations import for free. After that, it's a weekly, monthly or annual subscription through the App Store.

Can I download my Messenger messages on my iPhone?

Yes, you can start Meta's export of your account data on your iPhone. It goes through Accounts Center, which may show up as Meta Account settings:

1. Open Accounts Center from your Facebook settings.
2. Tap Your information and permissions, then Export your information, then Create export.
3. Export to your device, pick Messages, a date range and HTML.

When it's ready, Meta gives you 4 days to download it from Available downloads. The download is a ZIP, which is a folder packed into one file. Inside, the file named index opens in a web browser.

You can unzip it in the Files app, but finding one chat in those files and printing it is easier on a computer. Encrypted chats have their own download, the computer-only one above. If you need one conversation as a PDF today, the screen recording is faster.

What if the chat has disappearing messages turned on?

Then record it soon. In an encrypted chat, Meta's help page says you can set a timer so everyone's messages "disappear at a time you choose after they've been seen." A message nobody reads within 14 days disappears too.

Meta's page also says someone can "take or forward a screenshot or a screen recording of a disappearing message and save it before it disappears." So you can too. Start TextPort's recording, or take your screenshots, before the timer runs out.

Is a screenshot enough for a short Messenger chat?

For a few screens, yes. Take a screenshot on each screen as you scroll. Then open them in Photos, tap the Share button and choose Print. Your iPhone and printer need to be on the same Wi-Fi network.

Past a few screens, the pictures get hard to keep in order. Here's how to take a long screenshot of a text conversation on iPhone. For a whole conversation you're sending to a lawyer, a landlord or a court, skip the pile of pictures and record it with TextPort.

Printing from Instagram or WhatsApp too? See how to print Instagram messages and how to export WhatsApp chats.