How Far Back Can You Get Call Logs From Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile?

The Short Answer

It depends on the carrier, and the online windows are short. Verizon's help page says its website shows usage summaries for the past 90 days. T-Mobile's says postpaid accounts can download up to one year of call records. AT&T's consumer pages state no figure. Verizon's past bills go back up to 10 years and include usage summaries, though its page doesn't say whether those list calls one by one.

Older call records may exist, but they come through a request to the carrier, sometimes with a fee, or through your attorney once there is a case. The rule is the same everywhere: download what the portal shows now. A download is a copy you control. The online window isn't, and it moves forward every month.

Checked October 20, 2026 against each carrier's own help pages. Carriers change terms without notice. Prepaid, business, and discount brands have their own help pages, so check yours.

How Long Do Carriers Keep Call Records?

The table shows what you can see yourself, not a promise about what a carrier holds internally. Verizon's page comes closest to a retention statement, but the same page also points to 10 years of bills and to requests for older history (the Verizon section below reads it in full). Forum threads and summary sites quote multi-year retention figures for call records; none of the three carriers' pages we read states one, so we don't repeat them. To find out what exists for your line and dates, ask the carrier, or go through your attorney if you have a case.

What a Carrier Call Log Shows, and What It Doesn't

A carrier log lists calls and texts on the carrier's own network. AT&T's help page says talk usage lists outgoing and incoming calls with the time, the length, and the type of call (network or Wi-Fi calling). Expect the other party's number, and don't count on a name. Columns differ, so read your downloaded file before planning around it. It never contains content: no audio, no message text.

• FaceTime, WhatsApp and iMessage are missing. Apple describes FaceTime as working over Wi-Fi or cellular data, WhatsApp says its calls use your phone's internet connection rather than your plan's minutes, and AT&T says iMessages use Wi-Fi or data and don't show in its text logs. Our post on FaceTime call history for court explains where FaceTime is logged instead.
• Wi-Fi Calling is different. Apple describes it as an ordinary voice call over Wi-Fi, it depends on your carrier, and AT&T lists Wi-Fi calling as a call type, so those calls can appear.
• Unanswered attempts vary. Whether a log lists calls nobody picked up differs by carrier, and we couldn't confirm it for all three. Check your file before relying on it to show a pattern.
• Recent usage can lag. AT&T warns online usage can be delayed and says data use can take two to five days to post, longer for roaming and use outside the U.S. T-Mobile says roaming usage can take up to 30 days. The newest days may be missing.
• 999-999-9999 is a placeholder. Verizon says it appears when its system can't identify a number, usually for texts from short codes. Don't read it as a real number.

Verizon: How to Download Your Call Log

Use the website. Verizon's FAQ describes the My Verizon app's history only in terms of data (the current bill period and 90 days of data summaries), and its app how-to covers a data-use report, so the website is the route Verizon documents for a usage report.

1. Go to the Usage page on verizon.com and sign in.
2. Choose Usage Tools and download the monthly report of usage history. Open it and check that it lists calls one by one.
3. Repeat for every month offered, and name each file with the line, the month, and the download date.

Read Verizon's limit in context. Under Usage Tools, the page says: "Verizon only keeps records of the last 3 months of usage per device." The same page says the website shows usage summaries for the past 90 days, that past bills are available for up to 10 years and include usage summaries, and to contact Verizon for history older than 18 months, with charges possible.

It doesn't explain how these fit together. Our reading is that the report is the short window, bills are the long one, and a request reaches further. That is our reading, not Verizon's statement. The page also doesn't say whether a bill's usage summary lists calls one by one, so open an old bill and look. If it doesn't, ask Verizon for call detail for those months in a file.

T-Mobile: How to Download Your Call History

T-Mobile's help page describes a one-year download for postpaid accounts, done on a computer. Prepaid accounts and brands such as Metro by T-Mobile may differ, so check your own brand's help page.

1. Log in to T-Mobile.com.
2. Select Usage in the top menu.
3. Choose Calls and select the line.
4. Select Download all records, save the file, and open it to check what it contains.

It works one line at a time. In the T-Life app, go to Account, pick the line under People, tap Data used, then Calls; the page doesn't say how far back that view goes. T-Life also keeps up to 18 months of bills (View my bills, then Past bills), which T-Mobile describes as for viewing past bills only. Check whether a bill lists calls.

AT&T: How to Download Your Call History

AT&T is the one carrier where we couldn't find a stated limit on a consumer page. Its iPhone device support page gives this path in AT&T's app:

1. From the Home tab, tap See bill details.
2. Scroll to and tap Check out your data, call, and text activity.
3. Scroll to and tap See usage details.

Neither that page nor AT&T's consumer pages on checking wireless usage (updated March 24, 2026) or viewing your bill (March 9, 2026) say how far back it goes. The only figure we found is on AT&T's businesshelp page (updated February 13, 2025): usage for up to 16 billing cycles, downloadable as CSV or Excel from the Usage section. It is written for AT&T Business mobile accounts, so don't assume a personal account gets the same window.

AT&T Prepaid (page updated November 24, 2025): sign in at att.com/signin, choose Manage Prepaid account, then Account History, set your dates, choose a History Type, and select Submit or Export to PDF. You can select up to 30 days at a time, so six months takes several exports. How far back it goes isn't stated.

If You're Not the Account Holder

On a shared plan, the account holder decides what each line can see. T-Mobile's page on online permissions shows how that can work on a postpaid account. We didn't check the Verizon or AT&T equivalents.

• Primary Account Holder: manages all lines and sets permissions for the others.
• Authorized User: can manage the account and all its lines.
• Standard User: can see basic account information and details for their own line.
• Restricted User: can see basic account and billing information and a usage summary for their line.

So a Restricted User on the other parent's plan may see only a summary of their own line, not call-by-call detail. The account holder, or an Authorized User, may be able to see your line's usage. T-Mobile's page says they can manage all lines without listing what that covers, so the safe assumption is that they can see the numbers you call and text. That is worth raising with your attorney.

If you hold the account and the other parent's line is on it, don't assume you can use that line's records in a case; ask your attorney. Getting the other parent's records generally runs through discovery or a subpoena once there is a case. Our guide to getting phone records for a custody case covers both routes.

Getting Call Logs Older Than the Portal Shows

If the calls you need fall outside the window, you have three options, roughly in order of effort.

1. Check what you already have. An older bill, a file you saved, or an older encrypted iPhone backup can hold part of the timeline. Our post on how long an iPhone keeps call history covers the phone and Mac side.
2. Ask the carrier. Verizon says to contact them for history older than 18 months; charges may apply. For T-Mobile and AT&T, the pages we read describe no request process. Ask for call detail by name: whether it exists for your line and dates, in what format, and at what cost. Write down the date, the representative's name, and any reference number.
3. Go through your attorney. In a case, discovery or a subpoena can reach records the portal won't. It can take weeks and may cost money, and what comes back is usually the same kind of record: numbers and times, not content. A carrier can't produce what it no longer holds, and none of these pages says what each carrier still holds.

If you might switch carriers, download first. Once an account is closed, you may lose the login.

Carrier Log Plus iPhone Log, One Timeline

A carrier log comes from the carrier rather than your phone, but it covers only calls and texts on its network. The iPhone's own log is the other half: it includes FaceTime and shows whether each call connected from your phone's side.

Apple's support article on encrypted backups (support.apple.com/en-us/108353) lists call history among the information an encrypted backup can include and an unencrypted one doesn't, so tick "Encrypt local backup" when you back up. Exhibit A's browser app at getexhibita.com/app reads that backup in Chrome or Edge, on Windows or a Mac. It asks for the backup password, opens the backup on your own computer, and uploads nothing. Pick a contact and you get a court-formatted PDF with each call labeled FaceTime or phone.

The free tier exports the full exhibit with a watermark. A watermark-free export and the date-range filter, which lets you match your carrier download's dates, come with a $39 90-day Case Pass, Pro at $14 a month or $79 a year, or $149 lifetime. It reads the phone's side only, so it isn't a way to get a carrier's records.

Then compare the two:

• On both logs: confirmed twice.
• Only on the iPhone log: often FaceTime.
• Only on the carrier log, as a cellular call: look closer before drawing conclusions. The backup may predate it, it may have been deleted from the phone's Recents or aged out of the phone's log, or it may have been on another phone or line.

For a pattern of unanswered calls, see our post on proving denied visitation with phone records, which covers what a log can and can't show.

Keep the two records as separate files and ask your attorney how to present them together. Whether a court will take a record you downloaded, one the carrier produced, or a PDF made from a phone backup depends on the court and the judge. This is a workflow guide, not legal advice.

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