TextMint guide

How to save a WhatsApp chat as a PDF

By Tim Grootes, Bumblly · Last updated November 14, 2026

WhatsApp can export a chat, but not as a PDF. You get a text file, in a ZIP file on iPhone, with one line per message. Here is how to export it, and how to turn it into a document you can read, print or send.

We make TextMint, the app at the end of this guide. The free ways come first, and for a short chat they may be all you need.

Free

What WhatsApp gives you

WhatsApp's Help Center describes Export chat for both phones:

• iPhone: open the chat, tap the contact's or group's name, then Export chat. If the chat has media, choose With all media, With selected media or Without media, then choose where it goes, such as Message, Save to Files or Notes. The chat is exported as a ZIP file (WhatsApp Help Center).
• Android: open the chat, tap the menu, then More and Export chat. Choose Without media or Include media, then choose where to send it (WhatsApp Help Center).

WhatsApp also says that view once messages are not exported, and that the export cannot be imported back into WhatsApp because it is a text file, not a backup (same pages).

Inside is a plain text file. Each message starts on a new line with its date, time and name. You can read it, but it has no pages, no page numbers and no layout. Photos, if you chose them, sit next to it as loose files.

Step by step

Turn the export into a PDF with TextMint on iPhone

The export is the best source TextMint can get: it already holds the date, time and name of every message, so nothing has to be read from pictures.

1. Export the chat in WhatsApp. Open the chat, tap the contact's or group's name at the top, then tap Export chat.
2. Choose the media. If the chat has photos, choose With all media, With selected media or Without media. With media puts the photos in the PDF too. Without media is faster and gives a smaller file.
3. Send it to TextMint. In the list of apps, choose TextMint. Or choose Save to Files, then open TextMint, tap Add a conversation, WhatsApp chat export and Choose file.
4. Check the document. TextMint reads every message with its date, time and sender. Tap Options to set the title, the paper size and the names.
5. Export the PDF. Tap Export PDF to share or save it, or use More for Print and Save to Files.

The document

What the PDF looks like

• A cover page with the people in the chat, the first and last date, and the number of messages.
• Numbered rows with time, sender and message, and a heading for each day.
• Photos from an export with media as small pictures in their rows. Where a photo was left out of the export, the PDF says "Media not included in the export".
• A source files page with the name, size and SHA-256 fingerprint of the ZIP file and the chat text inside it.
• Group chats keep every sender's name, as WhatsApp wrote it in the export.

TextMint is free to download and to try. Without a purchase, an export holds the first 3 message pages and carries a PREVIEW mark. A full export is a one-time purchase: One Export for one conversation, or TextMint Pro for every conversation. There is no subscription.

Everything happens on your phone. There is no account and your conversations are never uploaded. See the TextMint privacy policy.

Android

TextMint for Android

On Android, share the export straight from WhatsApp's share sheet to TextMint, or open the .zip or .txt file in TextMint. Then use Save as PDF, Print or Share PDF.