Start in WhatsApp on your phone
On Android, open the conversation, tap the menu, choose More, then Export chat. On iPhone, open the chat details by tapping the person or group name, then choose Export chat. Choose Include media if you want attachments, or Without media for the text alone. Menu wording can vary by app version.
Save through an available local Files option and transfer the saved files to your computer. This guide does not require emailing a conversation or uploading it to a converter. See WhatsApp's official instructions for Android and iPhone.
Check the export before deleting anything
You may receive a ZIP containing a text file and media, or separate files. The text may be named _chat.txt or WhatsApp Chat with … .txt. Extract a copy if needed and open the TXT in a text editor.
- Check the earliest and latest messages against the conversation on your phone. An export is not necessarily your entire history.
- Look for the actual image and audio files. A message saying “Media omitted” does not contain the missing picture or sound.
- Open a few pictures and play a few voice notes. Files ending in .opus or .m4a may require a compatible player.
- Keep the original export as well as any book you make. Back up both to another place you control before changing the chat on your phone.
WhatsApp says that media exports include recent media and that exported text cannot be imported as a chat backup. Read the official export help for current behavior.
Why the dates can look wrong
A date such as 04/05/2025 may mean April 5 or May 4. The phone's regional settings affect the export. Look for an unambiguous date elsewhere in the file, then compare it with your phone. A good converter should tell you when it is making an assumption and let you change it.
Times in the text do not necessarily include a time zone. Keep them as exported unless you know the original zone. New lines inside a message, emoji and chat notices are part of the conversation too.
Chat Keepsake detects one timestamp layout from the first valid message or recognized English notice in each file. A later line starts a message only when its date and time match that layout and it has a name followed by a colon and a space, or matches a known notice such as a missed voice call. Dates, partial clocks, other export layouts and ordinary timestamped plans without a sender stay word for word in the preceding message. Blank lines and spaces are kept too.
Build combined exports separately. Unrecognized notice languages stay as message text; a file with no recognized messages is refused. A pasted line that exactly matches a real message header or known notice is indistinguishable from an exported message. Compare your book with the original TXT before sharing.
A folder and a PDF keep different things
You can keep and read the TXT without buying anything. For a more readable copy, a local HTML book can show pictures and offer audio controls. Keep its media folder beside index.html. Print → Save as PDF makes a paper-friendly copy, but the PDF will not play the voice notes.
The export and any book you make are ordinary readable files, not encrypted chat backups. Share thoughtfully and avoid public folders if the conversation is private.
Make an offline family book
See Chat Keepsake and its invented sample
This guide is useful without the tool. It does not claim to recover deleted or missing messages.