Export guide

How to export Signal messages

By the Clarity Forensics team · Updated October 22, 2026

Since version 8.7 (April 2026), Signal on Android can export your chat history: go to Settings › Chats › Export chat history. It saves all of your chats in a JSON format that comes from Signal's backup system, not a file per conversation. Clarity can't read that format yet, so the way to analyze a Signal conversation in Clarity today is to take screenshots of it and import them. Clarity reads the text on your phone.

Bring a Signal conversation into Clarity with screenshots

This works on Android, where Clarity reads screenshots on your phone without sending them anywhere.

Allow screenshots in Signal if needed. If your screenshots of Signal come out black, Signal's Screen security setting is on. You can turn it off in Signal's privacy settings while you capture, and back on afterwards.
Capture the conversation. Scroll through the part of the conversation you care about and take screenshots, letting each one overlap the last by a message or two so nothing is skipped.
Import them together. In Clarity, tap Import File and select all of the screenshots at once. Clarity reads the text in each one and removes the overlaps.
Check the result. Open the new conversation and make sure the messages and names came through correctly.

Dates are approximate. Screenshots usually don't show the date of every message, so Clarity keeps the messages in order but can't place each one exactly in time. The patterns and examples still work; the month-by-month timeline is less precise than with a real export.

About Signal's own export

Signal is built to keep as little data as possible, and for a long time it offered only encrypted backups for moving to a new phone. Version 8.7 for Android added a plaintext export of all your chat history as JSON, under Settings › Chats › Export chat history. It's a full copy of your messages in a format meant for computers rather than people, so keep the file somewhere private.

Good to know

Nobody is notified. Screenshots and exports stay on your phone unless you send them somewhere.
Disappearing messages that have already disappeared can't be captured or exported.
Delete the screenshots from your gallery when you're done if you don't want them kept.

Then see what the conversation shows

Clarity is a free Android app that reads the file you export and shows where patterns like gaslighting, love bombing and DARVO appear, with the messages behind every flag, a health score and a timeline. Pattern detection runs on your phone.

Get Clarity on Google Play

Not sure what to look for? Read the red flag guides.

Questions

Can you export Signal messages?

Yes, since version 8.7 for Android (April 2026). Go to Settings, then Chats, then Export chat history. It exports all of your chat history as JSON rather than one conversation at a time.

Can Clarity read Signal's chat export?

Not yet. Signal's export uses a JSON format from its backup system that Clarity does not read. To analyze a Signal conversation in Clarity today, import screenshots of it on an Android phone.

Why are my Signal screenshots black?

Signal's Screen security setting blocks screenshots. You can turn it off in Signal's privacy settings while you take screenshots and turn it back on afterwards.

Does the other person know if I screenshot a Signal chat?

Signal does not notify the other person when you take a screenshot in a regular chat.

Sources

aboutsignal.com (unofficial release tracker). Signal Android releases (version 8.7: plaintext history export).