How to export a WhatsApp chat

Open the one-to-one chat, choose Export Chat, select Without Media and save the file. Then open the import screen on your phone or computer and choose it. Story of Us reads the export in your browser and turns it into a private illustrated keepsake. If Advanced Chat Privacy is enabled for that chat, WhatsApp may disable export until it is turned off.

Exporting it to make something for the two of you? Once the file is saved, it’s about a minute to a keepsake — the import screen shows these steps too.

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What you need

Just your phone. The whole export happens there, and you can make the keepsake on the same phone; a computer is optional, if you’d rather read on a bigger screen. Find the one-to-one conversation with your partner; this doesn't work cleanly on a group chat.

Steps to export

1. Open the chat. Open WhatsApp and open the one-to-one conversation with your partner.
2. Start the export. On iPhone, tap their name at the top of the chat and scroll down to Export Chat. On Android, tap the menu icon in the top-right corner, then More, then Export chat.
3. Choose Without Media. Select Without Media. Photos and videos are not used by Story of Us, and leaving them out keeps the export small.
4. Save the file. When WhatsApp asks where to send it, choose Save to Files on iPhone, or save it to your phone or Drive on Android. Prefer a bigger screen? Send it to your computer instead, with AirDrop or Mail on iPhone, Drive or Gmail on Android.
5. Upload the exported file. Open the WhatsApp import screen on the same phone or on your computer and choose the file you just saved. A .txt or a .zip both work.

The file you're looking for

WhatsApp's own help center describes the export as a text file, not a backup — it isn't a single guaranteed packaging. Depending on your phone and how you share it, you'll get either a .txt file directly or that same transcript wrapped in a .zip (commonly named something like WhatsApp Chat with <Name>.zip or .txt). Story of Us accepts either directly — no unzipping needed either way — and with Without Media selected it's usually well under a few megabytes even for years of history.

Common problems

• Export Chat is missing or grayed out. If Advanced Chat Privacy is turned on for that specific chat, WhatsApp disables exporting it. Turn Advanced Chat Privacy off for that chat if you want to export it — note this also changes how disappearing messages and media forwarding work for that conversation.
• The exported file is much larger than expected. You likely exported with media included — re-export and choose Without Media.
• Not sure which chat you exported. Check the file name before uploading; it includes the contact name WhatsApp exported.
• Some very old messages seem missing. WhatsApp's own export has practical limits on very long histories — whatever the export includes is what the keepsake is built from.
• You're looking for Export Chat on WhatsApp Web or the desktop app. Export Chat lives in the phone app's chat screen — the export itself happens on your phone, so start there rather than in WhatsApp Web or the desktop app.
• The export seems to be taking forever. With Without Media selected it usually finishes in seconds, even for years of history. If it's dragging, you likely exported with media included — cancel and re-export choosing Without Media.

What to do with the exported file

Once the file is saved, you're about a minute from a finished keepsake: choose it on the WhatsApp import screen, on your phone or your computer — the .txt, or the .zip WhatsApp sometimes wraps it in. It's read in your browser, nothing to unzip first. From there you can count your texts free, or turn the whole chat into a book — a printed one, or a keepsake built from your own words that you print yourself.

What happens after you upload

After you drop the file in, your chat is read on your own device and turned into a free preview built from your own messages: the real cover plus three open cards, with the rest locked behind a pay bar. You don't pay to look first — one payment unlocks the full story (every locked page, the 6 cards written about you two, and a copy to keep), and the full keepsake generates on the same screen.

Privacy, plainly

Your WhatsApp export never leaves your device: it’s read right there in your browser. To write the captions, a much smaller slice goes to our server: your most-used words and phrases, counts and rhythms (who texts more, your streaks, your busiest hour), and a few sample messages, your first texts and your most recent. Never the file, never the whole conversation. Read exactly what we send →

What you get

Once the export is on your phone, this is what it can become. It’s built only from your own history: pet names and inside jokes it noticed on its own, your year-by-year rhythm, your busiest hour, the words you reach for without thinking. Read it on screen, then download the PDF to keep or print, ready in about a minute. No subscription, nothing shipped.

Make our WhatsApp keepsake One-time · no subscription · stays on your device

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