How to make a text story video for TikTok or YouTube Shorts

What you need

A short script, a browser and any video editor that can place images on a timeline, such as CapCut. Fakeconvo's generators make the screenshots for free, with no account and no watermark. Everything you type and every photo you add stays on your device.

Five steps to a text story video

1. Write the script first. A hook in the first message, short lines of a few words each, a twist near the end. Twelve to twenty messages fit a 30 to 60 second video. Read it out loud: if a line needs a breath, split it into two bubbles.
2. Build the chat. Open the iMessage or text message generator, name the contact under People and add the lines with "+ From me" and the "+ From" button that carries their name. Keep the times a minute or two apart, and leave a gap of an hour or more where the story jumps ahead: iMessage then shows a new time header.
3. Export one screenshot per message. Choose "Phone screen" and "3x (sharp)", then download a PNG after each new message. A long chat always shows its latest messages at the bottom, so every PNG looks like the next moment of the conversation. For a slow scroll through the whole story instead, export "Whole chat" once and pan over it in the editor.
4. Add a comment reply or a story frame. Many videos open on the viewer comment they answer: make it with the TikTok comment generator, with your own reply marked by the "Creator" badge. For a cutaway to someone's story, the Instagram story and Snapchat generators make a full 9:16 frame.
5. Edit the video. Put the PNGs on the timeline in order, 1 to 3 seconds each depending on the length of the message, and add a pop or a notification sound on every cut. The PNG is a portrait phone screen, so it fills a 9:16 video with a little margin.

Details viewers notice

Times that run backwards, a status bar clock earlier than the last message, or "Delivered" under a message the other person already answered: set its Status to "Read". People who watch text stories know the apps well, and comments point out these slips fast.

Keep one look for the whole video. Do not switch between light and dark mode halfway, keep the same names and profile photos in every shot, and use the app your characters would really use. If the story is in Spanish or German, set the "Chat language" in Settings so "Delivered" and "Today" match the language of the messages.

Use it the right way

Text stories are fiction, comedy and drama, and most creators say so in the caption. Do not use real people's names or numbers, do not present a made-up chat as a real leak or as evidence, and do not use it to harass anyone. Our acceptable use page has the details.