Attorneys nationwide retain cell phone forensics expert Eric Waldrep to recover and explain what smartphones hold: deleted text messages, app data, call logs, photos, and location history. 19 years of digital forensics experience. casework in federal and state courts.
The Waldrep Company provides cell phone forensics services to attorneys across the country from its lab in Addison, Alabama. Eric L. Waldrep, a Magnet Certified Forensics Examiner (MCFE), has 19 years of digital forensics experience and 27 years in law enforcement. He has completed casework in federal and state courts.
Mobile device forensics is the disciplined recovery and interpretation of data from smartphones and tablets: what is on the device now, and in many cases what someone tried to remove. A sound examination uses validated tools, documents every step, and produces findings another qualified examiner could reproduce.
Intake works at a distance. Ship a device to the lab under documented chain of custody, arrange a hand-off, or transfer a backup or a prior extraction electronically. When testimony is needed, Eric travels.
iPhone and iPad (iOS), Android smartphones and tablets, feature phones, wearables, and GPS units, across current and older operating system versions.
A smartphone records far more than its owner sees on screen. These are the artifact families a mobile device forensics examination looks at most often.
SMS, MMS, and iMessage threads with timestamps and participants. Many deleted messages are recoverable, though survival depends on the device, elapsed time, and overwrites.
WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, and Signal artifacts where they exist. One honest caveat: apps built around disappearing messages can leave little behind, and we say so before you spend money.
Incoming, outgoing, and missed calls with duration and timestamps, plus voicemail and contact records that show who was talking to whom, and when.
EXIF metadata can show when a photo was taken, on what device, and often where. Valuable when the authenticity or timing of an image is disputed.
GPS records, cached locations, Wi-Fi association history, and app location data that help reconstruct where a device was and when it was there.
Visited pages, search terms, and cached content, including entries the user cleared, where those artifacts survive on the device.
Recovered messages raise their own litigation questions: authentication, completeness, and how to present them. Our guide to deleted text messages in court walks through each one.
iPhone forensics works inside Apple's tightly controlled ecosystem. Depending on the model and iOS version, an examination draws on the device itself, encrypted local backups, and synced data. Apple's protections shape what is reachable, which is why the honest answer to most iPhone questions starts with the model and OS version.
Android forensics covers a much wider mix of manufacturers, chipsets, and OS builds. That variety cuts both ways: some Android devices give up more than any iPhone would, others less. The examination plan is built around the specific handset in front of us, not a generic template.
You may not need a new acquisition at all. Opposing expert report review is $2,750 flat. See our Cellebrite report review service for how that works.
Examinations rely on Cellebrite UFED, GrayKey, and Magnet AXIOM, applied and cross-checked by the examiner. These are tools, not conclusions: significant findings get verified against the underlying data rather than taken on a parser's word.
The same sequence every time, documented at every step, so the work can be explained and defended later.
In a custody or divorce matter, messages, photos, and location history often carry the story the parties dispute. We recover what exists, document what does not, and present it without spin.
An independent examination of the same phone the state examined, or a review of the extraction the prosecution produced, can confirm, put in context, or contradict the government's reading of the data.
Was the phone in use at impact? That question has a dedicated service page: mobile device forensics for accident investigations. Attorneys can also start with the free accident phone evidence checklist.
Departing-employee data theft, harassment claims, and policy violations frequently come down to what a company or personal device actually recorded, and when.
A forensic examination happens only when there is a proper legal basis for it: the client's own device, written consent from the device's owner, or legal process obtained through counsel, such as a court order or an agreed discovery protocol.
That rule protects the evidence and the client. If you are not sure whether you have authority to examine a device, raise it during the consultation before the device is touched. A phone someone happens to possess is not a phone they necessarily have the right to search.
Forensic acquisition is $1,500 per device. Consulting, analysis, and review time is billed from $425/hr. The full fee schedule, including testimony and retainer options, is published on the rates page. The initial consultation is free.
The Waldrep Company is based in Addison, Alabama and serves attorneys nationwide. Intake is remote, devices ship under documented chain of custody, and Eric travels for testimony. Call (251) 216-1164 or email info@thewaldrepcompany.com.
Straight answers to the questions attorneys ask before retaining a mobile device forensics examiner.
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Build the same capability in-house. Our self-paced Mobile Device Forensics course covers iOS and Android extraction and analysis with Cellebrite, Magnet AXIOM, and GrayKey.
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