Guides / How to export WhatsApp messages for court (Android and iPhone)

How to export WhatsApp messages for court (Android and iPhone)

By Emre, Pulad Labs · Updated 2026-10-18

If you are in a custody, employment, tenancy or other dispute, your lawyer will probably ask for a WhatsApp conversation. A pile of screenshots is the weakest way to give it to them. This guide shows how to export the chat, what to check, and how to end up with one clean document. It is general information, not legal advice.

Why screenshots are a problem

• Cut-off threads. A screenshot shows a few messages; the rest of the thread is missing.
• Missing dates. WhatsApp shows the date only in separators, so a screenshot often has no date at all.
• Hard to cite. A lawyer cannot point to "message 214 of 380" in a stack of images.
• Easy to challenge. Cropped and reordered screenshots look selective, even when you did nothing wrong.

How to export a WhatsApp chat

Android

1. Open the chat.
2. Tap the three dots (top right), then More, then Export chat.
3. Choose Include media to keep photos and files, or Without media for a small text file.
4. Share the file to yourself, to your email or to cloud storage.

iPhone

1. Open the chat and tap the contact or group name at the top.
2. Scroll down and tap Export Chat.
3. Choose Attach Media or Without Media.
4. Share the file with Mail, Files or another app.

You get a .zip (chat plus media) or a .txt. WhatsApp limits how much it exports: its help pages say about 10,000 of the latest messages with media and about 40,000 without. For a longer conversation, export without media or in several parts and check the dates.

What a lawyer needs from the export

• The whole date range that matters, not just the last few weeks.
• Both sides of the conversation, with names and times.
• Attachments (photos, voice notes, documents) that the messages refer to.
• A way to refer to each message: numbers, exhibit labels, page numbers.

Check it is complete before you send it

1. Compare the first and last message date with the period you need.
2. Look for long silent gaps. Did you delete the chat for a while or switch phones?
3. Search for <Media omitted>. Those photos or files are not in your export; export again with media.
4. Look for "This message was deleted". Those messages can no longer be recovered from the export.
5. Check that the messages on both sides read in the right order.

Keep the original

Do not edit the export file, do not retype messages and do not delete the chat from your phone. How a court checks that messages are genuine depends on where you live and usually relies on people (for example a witness who took part in the conversation) rather than on a program. Your lawyer can tell you what your court expects and which format it prefers.

Turning the export into one document

You can open the .txt and print it, but then photos and attachments are lost and nothing is numbered. A tool can read the export and produce one document with numbered messages, exact times, photos in place and a checksum of the original file.

That is what ChatProof does on your phone: it reads the WhatsApp export, shows a completeness report (missing media, date gaps, deleted messages), then creates a numbered PDF with optional exhibit labels and page numbers. The chat is processed on the device and is not uploaded. ChatProof is currently in closed testing on Google Play. ChatProof does not certify that a conversation is authentic; it reproduces the export as it is.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules on evidence differ by country and court; ask your lawyer.

Frequently asked questions