Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1twioef/how_do_i_obtain_and_erase_all_of_my_historical/

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The original was posted on /r/datahoarder by /u/GovernmentNo6314 on 2026-06-04 09:36:24+00:00.

I worked on a case where we were somehow able to pull and export years of someone's text messages into PDFs. It wasn't just messages currently on their phone—it seemed to include basically the entire history of that phone going back years. I wasn't involved in that part of the process, so I'm not sure exactly how it was done.

Now I'm wondering how I can do this for myself.

I've had an iPhone since around 2014, and before that I had phones like the Voyager and a few other older phones. I'm not asking how to scroll through messages on my current phone. I'm asking if there's a way to obtain all of my historical texts and call records from wherever that data is stored (iCloud, carrier records, backups, etc.).

Has anyone done this? How would I request or retrieve everything that's available? Is there a way to get all texts and call logs associated with my phone number/account, including from phones I no longer have? Or is that only possible in legal cases?

Basically, how do I get the most complete record of my own calls and text messages that still exists somewhere?