How to print WhatsApp messages

Published October 27, 2026

WhatsApp has no print button. The way to get a chat onto paper with every date, time and name is to export it first, then print or convert the export. This page covers iPhone, Android and a computer, and how to print a readable part of a long chat instead of thousands of pages.

Step 1: export the chat

• iPhone: open the chat, tap the name at the top, scroll down to Export Chat and choose Without Media. In the menu that opens tap Save to Files. You get a zip file; inside is _chat.txt, the whole conversation as text.
• Android: open the chat, tap the three dots, More, Export chat, Without media. Save it to the phone, Google Drive or email it to yourself. You get a .txt file.
• Computer: WhatsApp on a computer has no export. Export on the phone and send the file to the computer by email, AirDrop or a cloud drive.

Choose Without Media: the text export is small and complete, and photos and voice notes are listed by name where they were sent. With media, the file can be too large to email and still does not print the photos in place.

Step 2: print it

• On a computer: open the .txt file (unzip it first on a Mac or PC) in any text editor or word processor and print. Each line carries the date, time and sender.
• On iPhone: in the Files app, tap the zip to unpack it, open _chat.txt, tap the share button and choose Print, or Save as PDF through the print preview.
• On Android: open the .txt in Google Docs or Drive, then Share & export → Print.

Screenshots instead?

Screenshots show the chat as it looks, which some people prefer, but a long chat needs hundreds of them, dates appear only once per day, and nothing ties one screenshot to the next. For a few messages they are fine. For anything longer, the export is cleaner and complete.

Printing part of a long chat

A couple that has written daily for two years has tens of thousands of messages, which would be over a thousand printed pages. When the pages are for someone else to read, such as an immigration officer, a court or a lawyer, print a selection instead:

1. A count per month on one page, so the reader sees how long and how often you wrote without reading it all.
2. A sample spread evenly across every month, ten to forty pages, each message with its date, time and sender.
3. A note saying where the messages came from, how many the full export holds, and how the sample was chosen. Keep the export file.

Doing that by hand from a text file takes an evening. Proof of Relationship does it from the export in a minute: a monthly calendar, an even sample with dates and names, emoji kept, English translations under messages in other languages if you need them, and your photos in date order, as one PDF under 4 MB. The chat is read in your browser and not uploaded.

Common questions

Can you print a WhatsApp chat directly from the app?

No. WhatsApp has no print option. Export the chat (Without Media) and print the text file, or turn the export into a PDF.

Does the WhatsApp export include dates and times?

Yes. Every line of the export starts with the date and time and the sender's name, in the date format your phone uses.

Are deleted messages in the export?

No. Messages deleted for everyone are not in the export; the export shows the chat as it is on the phone when you export it.

How do I print WhatsApp messages for immigration or court?

Export the chat, then print a dated selection with a monthly summary rather than the whole chat. Keep the full export file in case anyone asks for more.

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