How to export a WhatsApp chat (Android and iPhone)

Updated 30 October 2026

WhatsApp has a built-in Export chat option that saves one conversation as a plain text file, optionally together with the photos, videos and voice notes in it. It works for one-to-one chats and for groups, and it doesn't need a backup, a computer program or a third-party app. This guide walks through the steps on both phones, explains the choice between “with media” and “without media”, and shows how to open the result in ChatReader.

The menus below match the current WhatsApp apps at the time this page was last checked. WhatsApp moves things around from time to time, so if a label looks slightly different on your phone, look for the closest match.

Export a chat on Android

1. Open WhatsApp and tap the chat you want to keep.
2. Tap the ⋮ menu in the top-right corner, then More.
3. Tap Export chat.
4. Choose Include media or Without media (see which one to pick below).
5. Android opens the share sheet. Pick where the file should go: Files / “Save to device”, Google Drive, an email app, or another app you use to move files.

Export a chat on iPhone

1. Open WhatsApp and tap the chat you want to keep.
2. Tap the contact's or group's name at the top of the screen to open the chat info.
3. Scroll down and tap Export Chat.
4. Choose Attach Media or Without Media.
5. In the share sheet, tap Save to Files and pick a folder (iCloud Drive or “On My iPhone”). You can also AirDrop the file to a Mac or send it to yourself by email.

Group chats

Groups are exported the same way. On Android use the ⋮ menu → More → Export chat inside the group; on iPhone tap the group name at the top and scroll to Export Chat. The file contains messages from every member, plus system lines such as “Carmen added Bob” or “Alice changed the subject”. Any member can export a group; you don't need to be an admin. You only get the messages that are on your phone, so anything sent before you joined, or deleted from your phone, won't be in it.

What you get

The result depends on your phone and on the media option:

• A .zip file, usually named like WhatsApp Chat with Alice.zip. Inside is the chat text (_chat.txt on iPhone, WhatsApp Chat with Alice.txt on Android) and, if you included media, one file per photo, video, voice note, sticker or document.
• A single .txt file. Some Android versions save a plain text file instead of a zip when you export without media.

Every message is one line starting with the date and time, then the sender's name and the text. The exact layout depends on your phone and its language settings; What's in the file explains the formats in detail.

With media or without media?

With media (Include media / Attach Media):

• Photos, videos, voice notes and documents are saved next to the text, so you can see them in the viewer.
• The zip can be very large, often hundreds of megabytes for an active chat. Email services usually refuse attachments over 20–25 MB, so emailing it often fails; save it to Files or Google Drive instead.
• WhatsApp includes fewer messages in an export when media is attached (see the limits below).
• Media that was never downloaded to your phone, or that you deleted, is left out.

Without media:

• Text only, so the file is small and quick to share, even for years of messages.
• Where a photo or video was sent you'll see a placeholder such as <Media omitted> (Android) or image omitted (iPhone).
• You usually get more of the chat history.

If you mainly want the conversation, for reading, searching or a PDF transcript, export without media. If the photos matter, export with media; for a long chat you can do both and keep the two files.

WhatsApp's export limits

WhatsApp caps how many recent messages an export includes. Figures commonly cited are about 10,000 messages with media and about 40,000 messages without media. WhatsApp doesn't document the exact numbers and they may change, but the effect is the same: for a very long chat, the export starts somewhere in the middle and the oldest messages are missing. Exporting without media usually gets you further back.

ChatReader shows the date of the first and last message in your file, so you can see straight away how much of the chat the export covers.

Getting the file onto a computer

You don't need a computer: ChatReader works in your phone's browser too. If you prefer a bigger screen:

• Google Drive or iCloud Drive: save the export there, then download it on the computer.
• USB cable (Android): connect the phone, choose “File transfer”, and copy the file from the folder you saved it to.
• AirDrop (iPhone to Mac): pick AirDrop in the share sheet.
• Email to yourself: fine for text-only exports; usually too large with media.

The export contains your private messages, so think about where you store it and delete copies you no longer need.

Open it in ChatReader

1. Go to the ChatReader home page.
2. Drop the .zip or .txt file on the drop zone, or tap it to choose the file. You don't need to unzip anything: drop the zip as it is and the photos and voice notes are read straight from it.
3. Pick your own name from the list of senders, so your messages appear on the right, like in the app.
4. Read, search, jump to a date or open the stats.

ChatReader.app doesn't need an account. Your file is processed on your device and never uploaded to our servers.

Open your chat