What ScribeHold does not do

ScribeHold does not undelete messages

ScribeHold reads what your iPhone still holds. It does not carve deleted data out of storage or reconstruct messages the phone has finished erasing — if iOS has purged it, it is gone, and nothing here will bring it back.

One exception worth knowing, because it surprises people in both directions: iOS keeps messages you delete in Recently Deleted for about 30 days before erasing them for good. Those are still on the phone, so ScribeHold can read them, and a legal export includes them by default. You can turn that off before you export. After iOS erases them, they are beyond our reach.

If messages your phone has already erased are what your case turns on, you need a forensic examiner, not us. That is a real profession with real tools, and it is worth the call.

ScribeHold does not read encrypted backups

If your iPhone has a backup password set — the “Encrypt Local Backup” option in Finder or Apple Devices — ScribeHold cannot read what comes off the phone. Turn that option off before your first run and everything works normally.

If you leave it on, the run will fail rather than quietly give you half your messages. Support for encrypted backups is on the roadmap; it is not here yet.

ScribeHold needs Apple Devices installed

ScribeHold talks to your iPhone through Apple’s own device drivers, which arrive with the free Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store (older setups have iTunes instead — that works too). Without one of them installed, Windows cannot see your iPhone properly and neither can we.

ScribeHold needs your passcode every single time

Since iOS 16.1, your iPhone asks you to tap in your passcode before it will hand over a backup — every run, not just the first. That prompt comes from Apple, and no tool on Windows can skip it or remember it for you. If you were hoping to set this up once and walk away, that is not possible on a modern iPhone. It annoys us too.

ScribeHold is not a backup or restore tool

ScribeHold copies your messages so you can read, search and export them on your PC. It cannot put anything back onto a phone, and there is no restore feature planned. To back up the device itself, use iCloud or Finder.

ScribeHold also does not keep a full copy of your phone. As it works, it holds on to your messages, attachments and contacts and discards the rest — notes, app data, settings, photos outside your messages. That keeps the space it uses reasonable, and it is on by default. Nothing on the iPhone is changed, and nothing is uploaded anywhere.

ScribeHold does not decide what a court accepts

The Legal Export Pack produces a tamper-evident archive an opposing party can check for themselves. Whether that record is admitted is still the court’s decision, not ours, and ScribeHold is not a substitute for a forensic examiner.