Turn Android text screenshots into one numbered PDF

Android has one genuine advantage here: scrolling screenshot capture is built into most phones. Press power and volume down, then tap Capture more or Scroll, and the phone keeps scrolling for you. That gives you long, clean images with fewer joins than an iPhone can manage without an app.

ThreadProof takes those captures, whether they are long scrolling images or dozens of ordinary ones, and lays them out as a single numbered PDF with a cover page, a declaration and a fingerprint for each file. It runs in Chrome on the phone, so the images never leave it.

Start with one screenshot. It stays on your device and you will see the first page in seconds.

Build my exhibit free

Capturing on Android without losing the timestamps

Turn on the date and time header before you start. In Google Messages the timestamp appears when you tap a bubble; in Samsung Messages it sits above each group. Scroll to the top of the section you need, take a scrolling capture, and check afterwards that the top and bottom of each capture overlap by a few lines so the joins can be found.

Do not crop. A cropped bubble loses the sender name, the platform and the time, which are the three things a reader wants and the three things nobody can add back later.

  • Power plus volume down, then Capture more or Scroll capture
  • Timestamps visible, sender name visible, no cropping
  • Overlap consecutive captures by several lines
  • Screen recording works too: scroll slowly and import the video

Where Android puts the files

Screenshots land in Internal storage, then Pictures, then Screenshots, and appear in Google Photos if backup is on. When you import into ThreadProof, pick them from the file chooser rather than from a chat app, because sharing an image through a chat app re-compresses it and changes its fingerprint.

If you already backed them up to Google Photos, download the originals rather than the shared links: a link is not a file and cannot be hashed.

Building the packet on the phone

Open ThreadProof in Chrome, import, and the app hashes each file on the device as it arrives. Stitching finds the overlapping band between consecutive captures and joins them, so a repeated three messages do not appear twice. Redact on the phone with a fingertip, write the declaration, then export. The PDF saves to Downloads like any other file.

WhatsApp users on Android can also export a chat as a .txt from inside WhatsApp; Professional imports that file as a labelled transcript exhibit alongside the images.

What the packet does and does not claim

The appendix records a SHA-256 fingerprint for each file you imported, so a later copy can be checked against it. It says nothing about what happened on the phone before the screenshot was taken, and we make no representation about how any court, employer or insurer will treat the document.

Questions people ask

Is a scrolling capture as good as separate screenshots?
Usually better, because there are fewer joins. Very long captures are split across pages on export with a continuation note so nothing is squeezed to illegibility.
Does it work in Samsung Internet or Firefox?
Chrome is the tested path on Android. Other Chromium browsers generally work; if export misbehaves, try Chrome before assuming the packet is at fault.
Can I do all of this without a computer?
Yes. Capture, import, stitch, redact and export all happen on the phone.
What does it cost and can I cancel?
Personal is $9 per month or $79 per year. A one-time Case Pass is $24 for 90 days. Professional is $49 per month or $439 per year. Cancel anytime from your Account page in two taps; access continues to the end of the period you paid for. Every charge has a 14-day money-back policy: see the policy at /refunds.

Related guides

ThreadProof formats documents. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

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