How to print a WhatsApp conversation, or save it as a PDF.

WhatsApp has no print or save-as-PDF button, so every route starts with an export from your phone. On iPhone, open the chat, tap the name at the top, and choose Export Chat; on Android, tap the ⋮ menu, then More, then Export chat. Without media you get a .txt; with media, a .zip. On your computer, copy the messages into a document and print it or save it as a PDF — or drop the export into Story of Us and print the keepsake PDF it makes.

You can’t print a WhatsApp conversation from inside the app — WhatsApp has no print button and no save-as-PDF option. Export the chat from your phone first, then print the file or save it as a PDF on your computer. The export happens entirely on your phone, one chat at a time, and it’s the same first step for every route.

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

How to print a WhatsApp conversation

1. Open the chat. Open WhatsApp on your phone and open the conversation you want to print.
2. Export the chat. On iPhone, tap the name at the top of the chat and scroll down to Export Chat. On Android, tap the ⋮ menu in the top-right corner, then More, then Export chat.
3. Choose with or without media. Choose Without Media for a single .txt of the messages, or Include Media for a .zip with the chat text plus its photos and videos.
4. Move the file to your computer. Send the file to yourself — AirDrop or Mail on iPhone, Drive or Gmail on Android — until it is on the computer you will print from.
5. Print it. Open the .txt (unzip the .zip first if you included media), copy the messages into a document, and print it. Or drop the export into Story of Us and print the keepsake PDF it makes.

One caveat: WhatsApp’s own export has limits on very old messages in very long chats, so the export may not reach back as far as the app’s screen does. The import screen walks through the export step by step — or read the full WhatsApp export guide first.

How to save a WhatsApp chat as a PDF

There is no “Save as PDF” inside WhatsApp either, so a PDF starts with the same export. The steps differ slightly by phone.

On iPhone

1. Open the chat, tap the name at the top, and scroll to Export Chat.
2. Choose Without Media for a .txt, or Include Media for a .zip.
3. Send the file to yourself with AirDrop or Mail.
4. On your computer, open the .txt (unzip the .zip first if you included media), copy the messages into a document, and save or print it to PDF.

On Android

1. Open the chat and tap the ⋮ menu → More → Export chat.
2. Choose Without Media for a .txt, or Include Media for a .zip.
3. Send the file to yourself with Drive or Gmail.
4. On your computer, open the .txt (unzip the .zip first if you included media), copy the messages into a document, and save or print it to PDF.

That gives you the verbatim record as a PDF. To skip the formatting, drop the .txt or .zip into Story of Us instead and download the keepsake it builds as a PDF — your story rather than the transcript, ready in about a minute.

Route A: print the raw conversation

Printing the raw export gets you the verbatim record: every message in order, with dates and timestamps, free. The tradeoff is that you’re typesetting an export by hand: the .txt arrives as one long stream with the export’s own line format, media from the .zip has to be placed yourself, and a years-long history becomes a very long document with no story in it.

Route B: build a keepsake, then print it yourself

Story of Us starts from the same export and builds something different: not a reprint of the conversation, but a short keepsake written from the patterns inside it — your pet names, your rituals, the year you talked the most, the phrase you didn’t know you repeated. Drop the .txt or .zip straight into your browser — the file itself is read locally, never uploaded, nothing to unzip first — and read the result together on screen in about a minute. Then download it as a PDF and print it yourself, at home or a print shop: a few nice pages that read like a book of your own words, instead of weeks of waiting.

What you get

A printed WhatsApp chat is a record. A keepsake is the story inside it. 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.

Privacy, plainly

Your exported WhatsApp chat 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 →

Don’t wait on it

Every printing route starts from the export you make today — and that export is the only complete copy of the conversation outside WhatsApp’s app. Very long chats are sometimes capped by WhatsApp’s own export limits on very old messages, so the further back your story goes, the more reason to export now: print the record — raw or keepsake — while the whole thing is still in there.

Which route should you pick?

Pick the raw print if you need the verbatim record — messages, dates, timestamps, everything in order. Pick the keepsake if you want something you would actually hand someone: the story in the messages rather than the messages themselves, printed the same day. Plenty of couples do both: read the keepsake together, keep the raw export filed away.

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

Talk on Messenger instead? Make a Messenger keepsake →

Start from the export itself: WhatsApp export guide, step by step →

Want it bound as a book? How to turn a WhatsApp chat into a book →

Printing from iMessage instead? Print an iMessage conversation →

Printing from Messenger instead? Print a Messenger conversation →

Just curious about the raw numbers? Count your texts free, right on this device →

Making it a gift? See the anniversary keepsake →