Turn your text messages into a book.
The book is already written — it's sitting in your chat app. Years of good-mornings, arguments, 2 a.m. you up? texts, the pet names, the rituals: everything you two have ever said to each other. Turning text messages into a book is just deciding what to do with all of it. There are two routes from messages to book: a printing service that binds and ships your conversation, or an instant keepsake you make yourself and print at home.
Step 1: get the messages out of your phone
Whichever route you pick, you start with an export of the conversation. On WhatsApp, open the chat and export it without media — you get a text transcript, either a .txt file directly or that same text wrapped in a .zip, depending on your phone and how you share it. On Messenger, download the conversation's message storage data and find its .json file. On iPhone texts (iMessage), there's no Apple export button — Story of Us reads the history straight from a Mac's chat.db, which is our own import method, not an Apple feature. WhatsApp export guide → · Messenger export guide → · iMessage export guide →
Route A: a printed book of your texts
Printed chat-book services take your exported file and turn it into a bound book they post to you. You export, send them the file, and wait: production and delivery take weeks rather than minutes. Pricing varies with page count, binding and shipping — one well-known provider, MyForeverBooks, charges from around $76, so check directly with the provider you're considering before you commit. And your full conversation passes through the printer's servers to be laid out, so read their privacy policy first. What arrives is a genuine, professionally bound object: your words, reprinted page after page. If you want the gift-ready physical thing and don't mind the wait, this is the route.
Route B: an instant keepsake you print yourself
Story of Us starts from the same export and builds something different: not a reprint of the conversation, but a short love story 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 file straight into your browser and read the result together on screen in about a minute. Then download it as a PDF and print it yourself: a few nice pages tucked into a card, and you have your book of texts — your story, on paper, today instead of in a few weeks.
What you get
A short, private keepsake 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. You read it on your screen, then you can download it as a PDF to keep or print yourself, no subscription and nothing shipped. It's ready in about a minute.
Privacy, plainly
The export itself never leaves your device — it's read right there in your browser, the same way a photo opens on your computer. To write the handful of captions that need real words (your busiest year, your first exchange, the phrase you didn't know you repeated), we send a much smaller slice to our server: your most-used words and phrases, counts and rhythms (who texts more, your streaks, your busiest hour), and a very small handful of sample messages — your first few texts and your most recent. Not the export file, not your full conversation. Read exactly what we send →
Which route should you pick?
Pick a printed book if you want a professionally bound, gift-ready object and don't mind waiting weeks or handing your full conversation to a printer. Pick the instant keepsake if you want it today, want the export to stay on your own device, or want the story in the messages — a telling of your relationship written from your own words, not just the messages reprinted. Plenty of couples do both: make the keepsake now, print the PDF, and you have a book either way.
Turn our texts into a keepsake one-time · no subscription · stays on your laptop
Talk on WhatsApp? The WhatsApp-specific route →
Printed-book route in detail: WhatsApp chat book options →
Just curious about the raw numbers? Count your texts free, right on this device →
Making it a gift? See the anniversary keepsake →
Questions
How do I turn my text messages into a book?
First export the conversation from your chat app — a .txt or .zip from WhatsApp, message-storage JSON from Messenger, or a Mac chat.db for iMessage. Then either send that file to a printing service for a bound book in a few weeks, or drop it into Story of Us in your browser for an instant keepsake you can print yourself as a PDF.
Does it work with iMessage, WhatsApp, and Messenger?
Yes — all three are supported. WhatsApp gives you a .txt file or a .zip containing it; Messenger gives you a message-storage download in JSON; iMessage is read straight from a Mac's chat.db, which is Story of Us's own import method, not an Apple export feature. Every file is read in your browser.
How much does it cost to turn texts into a book?
It depends on the route. Printed services charge by page count, binding and shipping — one well-known provider charges from around $76, so check directly with whichever printing service you're considering. The instant keepsake route skips printing and shipping entirely: you print the PDF yourself, at home or a print shop, for whatever that costs you.
Is my exported chat uploaded anywhere?
Not with Story of Us — the export is read in your own browser, never uploaded, whatever the file type. A printing service is different: they need your full file to lay out the book, so check their privacy policy first.
What's the difference between a printed book of texts and a keepsake?
A printed book reprints your conversation page after page — the provider lays it out, prints and ships it. Story of Us instead writes a short love story from the patterns in your own words — pet names, rituals, busiest hours — ready in about a minute, which you then print yourself.