Does a message in the report prove it was sent or received?¶

Not by presence alone. The report may contain a draft, queue entry, notification, synchronised copy or fragment rather than evidence of successful transmission or receipt.

Resolve state and direction¶

Identify the active account, participants, source database and fields for draft, outgoing, submitted, sent, delivered, read or failed. Where a parser translates coded values, validate the source and application version if the exact status matters. A fragment may retain text while losing status or direction.

Separate handset, service and recipient evidence¶

A local sent state can show what the app recorded; provider delivery and a matching recipient copy answer different questions. A linked client may submit a message that later appears on the phone, so synchronised presence does not establish the originating device.