Before You Switch, Reset, or Trade In Your Phone: Keep Your Texts
The short answer: Save 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 to a new phone can leave messages and pictures behind. Save 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 picture or old conversation, and they don’t give you a readable record.
Save first, then switch
- Connect your current phone to EvidentlySo on your Windows PC, and make a PDF of each conversation you need. Each PDF is saved to your Dropbox. How to save messages
- Check that you have a PDF of each conversation you need, up to today.
- Now switch, reset, or trade in your phone.
Where your messages live afterward
Your PDFs are saved to your own Dropbox account, not our servers, so they’re still there after you switch, reset, or trade in your phone.
Checklist
- Make a PDF of each conversation you need from the old phone
- Check the conversations you need are saved
- Don’t delete messages before you save
- Then reset, trade in, or switch
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.