Chat as Evidence: Screenshots vs Export (WhatsApp, iMessage)

When a message thread matters in a dispute, people usually have screenshots. An export gives you the thread as text. This page compares the two for WhatsApp and iMessage and says what neither can do.

Not legal advice. This page is general information. Whether a court admits or relies on a chat is for the court; convokeep does not promise admission or any outcome. Ask a qualified lawyer about your case.

What are the problems with screenshots?

A long thread becomes dozens of images, dates may be off-screen, and a crop can look like a selective excerpt. Images cannot be searched, and a screenshot alone does not show what was before or after it.

What does an export give me?

WhatsApp can export a chat as text, or a .zip with media (steps). iMessage has no built-in export button on iPhone; see How to export iMessage. An export carries the whole thread with senders and timestamps, in a form you can search.

What does a PDF add?

A readable, page-numbered layout. In Record mode, convokeep adds a SHA-256 integrity page for the source and transcript, so a later copy can be checked against the recorded values.

Will one of these be accepted by a court?

Courts decide. In the US, for example, Federal Rule of Evidence 902(14) lets data copied from a device be self-authenticating only when a qualified person certifies the process of digital identification (rule text read 2026-10-29); a PDF tool cannot certify itself. Other countries differ.

What should I keep?

The original export, the device, and your PDF. Keep screenshots as a supplement, not a replacement.

Privacy

Reading the file, building the PDF and calculating hashes all happen in your browser. No chat or attachment is uploaded and there is no account. See the privacy policy and the disclaimer.

Related guides

Ready to try it?

Drop your exported chat file on the convokeep app for a free preview. The first 3 pages are free (watermarked, no integrity page); saving the full PDF is a one-time paid feature. No chat or attachment is uploaded: the file is read in your browser. To check later that a file is unchanged, use the hash checker.

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This document was generated locally in the user's browser; no content was uploaded.