How to Export a WhatsApp Chat on iPhone (and Turn the ZIP Into a PDF)

To export a WhatsApp chat on iPhone, open the chat, tap the contact or group name, tap Export chat, and pick a media option. WhatsApp saves a ZIP file with the whole conversation as plain text, plus photos and videos if you include them. You can keep it, send it, or turn it into a PDF.

The catch is the text file inside. It's a raw log of brackets, timestamps and file names: fine as a copy for yourself, hard to read for anyone you hand it to. Below are WhatsApp's current steps, what the ZIP actually holds, and how to turn it into a clean PDF, CSV or TXT with TextPort when someone else has to read it.

What does "Export chat" mean on WhatsApp?

Export chat saves a copy of one conversation as a file you can keep, read or send outside WhatsApp. It's for reading and sharing, and that's all it does.

It isn't a backup. A WhatsApp backup lives in iCloud (or WhatsApp's own cloud storage) so you can restore your history on a new phone. An export is a text file, and WhatsApp can't load it back in. If you're moving to a new phone, use WhatsApp's backup or its Transfer Chats feature instead.

Two limits. If Advanced Chat Privacy is turned on in a chat, nobody in it can export it (more on that below). And View once photos and videos never make it into any export.

Step-by-step: export a WhatsApp chat on iPhone

These are the steps from the WhatsApp Help Center for iPhone.

1. Open WhatsApp and go to the chat you want to export.

2. Tap the contact's name (or group name) at the top of the screen to open the chat info page.

3. Scroll down and tap "Export chat."

4. Pick a media option. If the chat has photos, videos, voice notes or files, WhatsApp asks whether to include them: With all media, With selected media…, or Without media. Older versions of WhatsApp show two choices here, Attach media and Without media.

5. Pick where the file goes. The share sheet, the menu of places to send the file, opens. Choose Save to Files, Messages, Notes, or an app such as TextPort.

What's inside the exported ZIP file

Whichever option you pick, WhatsApp on iPhone hands you a ZIP. It's named after the chat, such as WhatsApp Chat - Anna.zip. Inside is a file called _chat.txt with every message, plus the photos and files themselves if you included media.

Open _chat.txt and you get one line per message: the date and time in square brackets, the sender's name, then the text. Here's a made-up chat exported Without media:

[10/6/25, 19:06:50] Maya: Can you pick the kids up at 5 today?
[10/6/25, 19:07:12] Jordan: I can't today. Can we switch to Thursday?
[10/6/25, 19:35:19] Maya: image omitted
[10/6/25, 21:02:44] Jordan: Missed voice call

A few things in that file trip people up:

• The date order isn't fixed. Some exports put the day first (22/07/2025), some the month (7/22/25). Is 10/6/25 in that sample June 10 or October 6? Nothing in the file tells you, and on a chat that spans months it's easy to misread a date.
• Media becomes a line of text. Without media, a photo is just "image omitted", and voice notes and GIFs get the same treatment. With media, the line names the file instead, like <attached: 00000007-PHOTO-2025-06-10-19-35-19.jpg>, and the photo sits next to _chat.txt in the ZIP. Nothing shows the picture next to the message it belonged to.
• WhatsApp adds its own lines. The file often opens with "Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted..." Missed calls show up as messages, and edited messages carry a <This message was edited> tag.

That's why the export is great for keeping a record and awkward for handing one over. A lawyer, a caseworker or a family member has to read a wall of brackets and file names to follow the conversation.

Which media option to pick

Without media gives the smallest file: the full written conversation, with photos and voice notes reduced to "omitted" lines. Pick it when the words are the record, or when you just want a quick copy.

With all media puts every photo, video, voice note and document from the chat in the ZIP. On a long, photo-heavy chat the file gets big and takes a while to build. Pick it when the pictures are part of what you need to show, like photos of damage in a landlord dispute or receipts in a sale that went wrong.

For a court case, start with Without media unless the photos are part of what you're showing. The text-only file is small enough to email to a lawyer, and you can export the chat again with media later, as long as it's still on your phone.

One thing worth noting: as the WITNESS organization documented in December 2018, once you download a message or media file to your phone, it's no longer protected by WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption. Keep that in mind when deciding where to send or store the exported file.

Turn the export into a PDF, CSV, or TXT with TextPort

TextPort turns that ZIP into a conversation people can actually read. In step 5, tap TextPort in the share sheet. If it isn't in the row of apps, tap More at the end of the row, or save the ZIP to Files first and share it to TextPort from there. TextPort may ask which person in the chat is you, so your messages land on the right side.

TextPort reads _chat.txt line by line, exactly as WhatsApp wrote it, with no AI guessing at the words. It skips the encryption notice at the top, turns "image omitted" into a short label like [Image], shows missed calls as [Missed voice call], and drops the edited-message tags. It works out day-first or month-first by checking dates that can only be read one way, like 22/07. Export with media and each photo prints with the message it came with, so you get a clean chat with photos, ready to export or print. The step-by-step version with screenshots is in the guide on exporting a WhatsApp chat to TextPort.

Then pick the format you need:

• PDF: Paginated, formatted, and print-ready. Best for court filings, business records, or anything someone else will read. You can also use it to print WhatsApp chat history for USCIS and similar official submissions.
• CSV: An Excel-compatible spreadsheet where each message is a row. Useful for searching, filtering, or analyzing a conversation by date, sender, or keyword.
• TXT: A clean plain-text file. Good for a quick backup or for pasting into another document.

You don't need a computer, a cable or desktop software. Your first three conversations are free to import. If your goal is to put the conversation on paper, the guide to printing WhatsApp messages from iPhone covers the AirPrint step.

If you need to understand how this fits into broader iPhone text message archiving, the same export-and-convert logic applies across messaging apps.

Where exported files go on iPhone

The file's destination depends entirely on which option you selected in the iOS share sheet.

• Save to Files: The ZIP appears in the Files app under "On My iPhone" or in your iCloud Drive, depending on the folder you picked. Tap it in Files and it unpacks into a folder holding _chat.txt and any media.
• Mail: The file arrives as an attachment in your sent email. You can access it from any device where you're signed into that email account.
• TextPort: The ZIP opens in TextPort, and the PDF, CSV, or TXT you make can be shared or saved from there.

If you're not sure where it went, open the Files app and search for the other person's name or the group name. The ZIP is named after the chat.

Troubleshooting: export option or share sheet not showing

A few things can prevent the export from working as expected.

"Export chat" doesn't appear in the menu: This almost always means you haven't reached the right screen. You need to tap the contact or group name at the top of the chat window to open the chat info page. The export option won't show if you're viewing the main chat list or a settings screen.

Export chat is gray or missing in one chat: That chat probably has Advanced Chat Privacy (WhatsApp is replacing it with Restricted chat) turned on. In a one-to-one chat either person can switch it on from the chat name, in a group only an admin can, and it blocks everyone in the chat from exporting it. Ask the person who turned it on to switch it off, or capture the chat with Scroll Capture instead.

TextPort (or another app) doesn't appear in the share sheet: Tap More at the end of the row of apps. If it's still not there, save the file to Files first, then open it from there and share it to TextPort.

The .zip file from "With all media" is too large to email: Save it to Files instead and share it from there, or use AirDrop to move it to another device.

Which approach fits your situation

Situation	Recommended path
Quick personal backup of one chat	Without media + TextPort TXT
Printing or filing a conversation	Without media + TextPort PDF
Need photos/videos included	With all media (or selected media) + TextPort PDF
Spreadsheet analysis or keyword search	Without media + TextPort CSV
Court filing or formal documentation	Without media + TextPort PDF (see text messages as legal evidence)

WhatsApp's built-in export gets the data out. What you do with it after that determines whether it becomes a usable document or just a ZIP sitting in your Files app.