The short answer: Capture your messages before you reset, trade in, or switch phones. A reset erases them from the phone, and a trade-in hands the phone to someone else. Moving messages to a new phone doesn’t always bring every message and picture along. Capture first, then switch.
What can be lost
- Factory reset: erases everything on the phone.
- Trade-in or sale: the phone is wiped and gone.
- Switching phones: transfer tools don’t always move every message, picture, or old conversation, and they don’t give you a readable record.
Capture first, then switch
- Install EvidentlySo on your current phone and connect your Dropbox.
- Run a capture. Your messages are copied into your own Dropbox.
- Check that the conversations you need are there.
- Now switch, reset, or trade in your phone.
Where your messages live afterward
Your capture stays in your own Dropbox, not on our servers. You can export PDFs from it later, even after the old phone is gone.
Moving EvidentlySo to your new phone
Your license covers one phone at a time. Capture the old phone first, then move your license to the new one. Captures and PDFs you already made aren’t affected. [REVIEW: transfer steps once built]
Checklist
- Capture messages on the old phone
- Confirm the conversations you need are in the capture
- Don’t delete messages before capturing
- Then reset, trade in, or switch
- Move your EvidentlySo license to the new phone
Related: How to save text messages from your Android phone for court · Download EvidentlySo
This is general information, not legal advice. Ask your attorney how to present messages in your case.