Before you upload
How to export a WhatsApp chat
Any chat works: a group, a couple, two friends. It takes about a minute on an iPhone, plus a few more while your phone packs up the photos. Nothing changes in the chat itself.
Open the chat and tap its name
Open WhatsApp, go into the chat you want, and tap the name at the very top of the screen. That opens the chat’s info page.
Tap •••, then Export chat
On the info page, tap the three dots in the top-right corner and choose Export chat.
Don’t see the dots? Older versions of WhatsApp put Export chat near the bottom of the info page instead. Scroll down to find it.
Choose With selected media…
You’ll be asked what to include. With selected media keeps the photos but skips the bulky stuff. The photos are what make the book.
Turn on Photos, then tap Export
Switch on Photos (and Stickers if you like them). Leave Videos, Audio and Documents off, then tap Export.
Why leave videos off? A few years of videos can make the file several gigabytes: slow to save, and videos can’t go in a printed book anyway.
Wait while it packs up
You’ll see Exporting chat… with a progress bar. A long chat with lots of photos can take a few minutes.
Keep WhatsApp open and your screen on until it finishes. Don’t tap Cancel.
Save it: Save to Files
When it’s done, your share menu opens. Scroll down, tap Save to Files, pick a folder (e.g. On My iPhone › Downloads) and tap Save.
You’ll have one file called something like WhatsApp Chat – Holiday Crew.zip. That’s the one you upload.
What’s inside the file
The whole conversation as a text file (_chat.txt), plus the photos you chose. It’s a copy. Your chat stays exactly as it was.
What doesn’t come across
“View once” photos and messages, anything already deleted from the chat, and any media types you switched off.
If it’s slow or fails
Connect to Wi-Fi, plug in to charge and free up some storage, then try again. Still stuck? Email hello@threadandbound.com.
Got the file? See what’s in it.
Upload it and the whole chat is read, usually inside twenty minutes, then every chapter is written for £9.