What is it?
The WhatsApp Chat Viewer shows an exported chat as familiar chat bubbles, with photos from the .zip and a search box. It is useful for reading old chats on a computer, or looking at a backup when you no longer have the phone.
Who is it for?
People reading an old chat backup on a computer, families keeping chats of a loved one, anyone who changed phones and kept the export, and people who need to search a long chat for a date, an address or an agreed price.
How to export a chat from WhatsApp
- Android: open the chat → tap ⋮ (top right) → More → Export chat → choose Without media (a .txt file) or Include media (a .zip with photos). Save it to Files or Drive.
- iPhone: open the chat → tap the contact or group name at the top → scroll down → Export Chat → Without Media or Attach Media → Save to Files.
- WhatsApp exports at most about the latest 40,000 messages without media (10,000 with media). Older messages are not in the file.
Open the chat
- Tap Open your exported chat (.txt or .zip) and pick the file, or drop it on the page. Open the .zip directly; you don’t need to unzip it.
- Choose Which one is you? Your messages then appear on the right in green, like on your phone.
- Type in Search to jump to messages with a word, name or number.
Problems and fixes
- No messages found: the file is not a WhatsApp export, or it was opened and saved again in another app. Export it again from WhatsApp.
- Photos missing: you exported Without media. Export again with Include media and open the .zip. Very old photos may not be on the phone any more.
- Dates look mixed up: the date order (day/month or month/day) is guessed from the file. If a chat only has dates like 05/06, the guess can be wrong.
- It is slow: chats with tens of thousands of messages and many photos need memory. Use a computer, or export without media.
Is my chat private?
Yes. The chat is read inside your browser and never uploaded. Close the page and it is gone. Try it first with Try a sample chat if you like.
Open the tool: WhatsApp Chat Viewer
Still stuck?
Contact support. Tell us which tool or page you were using, what you tapped, what you saw, and your phone or computer and browser (for example: Android phone, Chrome). We reply by email.
Questions, or an error not listed here?
Tell us in the comments: what you were doing, the exact message you saw, and your device and browser. We read every comment and add new fixes to this article.