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Exporting a backup from an iPhone

This guide shows how to export the files our tool accepts from an iPhone and upload them — either via a computer or directly from Safari on the phone. When ready, open the SMS/MMS Extractor.

Important: iPhone text-message support

iPhone does not produce the Android SMS-backup XML our SMS engine reads. On iPhone, the tool currently supports WhatsApp exports (below). Native iMessage/SMS extraction from iPhone requires a full computer backup and is on our roadmap — see the note at the end.

WhatsApp — export a chat (recommended)

  1. Open WhatsApp and the conversation you need.
  2. Tap the contact or group name at the top to open its info screen.
  3. Scroll down and tap Export Chat.
  4. Choose Without Media (a .txt file) or Attach Media (a .zip).
  5. In the share sheet, pick Save to Files (recommended) or Mail to send it to yourself.

Move the export to your computer

  1. iCloud Drive: when saving to Files, choose an iCloud Drive folder, then download it from iCloud on your computer.
  2. AirDrop (to a Mac): from the share sheet choose AirDrop and send to your Mac.
  3. Email: mail the export to yourself and download the attachment on the computer.

Uploading straight from your iPhone (no computer)

Phone browser upload

You can do everything on the phone.
  1. Make sure you exported the chat with Save to Files first (steps above).
  2. Open Safari and go to yourlegalaitools.com.
  3. Sign in and open the SMS/MMS Extractor; choose WhatsApp as the source.
  4. Tap choose a backup file → Browse → open the Files app location where you saved the export.
  5. Select the .txt (or .zip); it uploads directly and securely.

iMessage & SMS from iPhone (advanced / roadmap)

Apple stores texts in an encrypted device backup rather than a simple export file. Extracting them generally requires creating a local backup on a computer:

  1. Connect the iPhone to a Mac (Finder) or Windows PC (Apple Devices / iTunes).
  2. Choose Back up all the data on your iPhone to this computer and create a backup.
  3. The messages live in the backup’s sms.db database.

Not yet supported

Direct upload of iPhone sms.db / device backups is on our roadmap and is not accepted yet. For iPhone today, please use the WhatsApp export above. If you need iMessage/SMS extraction now, contact support@yourlegalaitools.com.

Before you upload

Only upload data you have the legal right to process. Files are permanently deleted from our storage 24 hours after creation. See our Terms and Privacy Policy.

Using an Android phone instead? See the Android guide.