How to export a WhatsApp chat to PDF for court (iPhone)

By Kayabyte · Last updated 31 October 2026

Short answer: on your iPhone, open the chat in WhatsApp, tap the contact or group name at the top, scroll down and tap Export Chat. That gives you a text file (or a .zip with photos and videos). WhatsApp cannot make a PDF itself, so open the file on a computer and print it to PDF, or use an app that builds a numbered PDF from it. Courts decide what they accept, so keep the original phone and the original export file, and check your court’s rules or ask a lawyer.

This guide is practical help, not legal advice.

Step 1: Update WhatsApp and export the chat

Update WhatsApp from the App Store, so the export screen matches this guide.
Open the chat. Tap the name at the top, scroll down and tap Export Chat.
Choose Attach Media (some versions say With Media) to include photos and videos, or Without Media for text only.
In the share sheet, pick AirDrop to send it to your Mac, or Save to Files, or email it to yourself.

WhatsApp limits how big an export is. Its help pages give about the latest 10,000 messages when media is included and about 40,000 without media at the time of writing, so a very long chat may be cut off. If you need the whole history, export without media, and see export file or iPhone backup.

Step 2: Keep the original untouched

Copy the exported file to a safe folder and never edit it. Work on a copy. A file you have changed is hard to defend later. Keep the phone too: it is the source.

Step 3: Turn the file into a PDF yourself (free)

Double-click the .zip on your Mac to unpack it. The chat is a .txt file inside (usually called “_chat.txt”). Photos and videos sit next to it.
Open the .txt in TextEdit, choose File, Print, then PDF at the bottom left, then Save as PDF.
Read through it: dates and times should be there for each message.

What you will be missing: page numbers (“Page 3 of 41”) are not added by TextEdit, photos are not shown next to their messages (only a file name appears), and nothing shows that the file was not changed. For a short chat that may be enough. See also How to print WhatsApp messages on a Mac.

What the result should show

Date, time and sender on every message.
Who the people are (WhatsApp shows the names saved on your phone, or phone numbers for people you have not saved).
Which time zone the times are in. A WhatsApp export file has no time zone, so write down the zone of the phone.
The whole conversation, or a clearly marked excerpt with some context.

Step 4 (optional): Let Exhibitly build the PDF

Exhibitly is a Mac app we make. Since version 1.1.0 it reads WhatsApp export files:

In Exhibitly choose File, Import WhatsApp Chat…, or drop the .zip or .txt on the window. Help, How to Export a WhatsApp Chat repeats the iPhone steps inside the app.
If the file does not make clear whether dates are day first or month first, Exhibitly asks you, using a real date from your file, and never guesses silently. You can also say which person is you, and which time zone the times are in.
Pick the whole chat or only some messages (Messages, Pick Messages), and hide anything that should not be shared (Redact Text, Redact Attachments or Redact a Word).
Export. You get a PDF with page numbers and photos inline, an Excel file, a folder of the original attachments with SHA-256 fingerprints, and a verification page. The Evidence Bundle edition adds Bates numbers and an exhibit cover page.

The verification page says honestly that the source was a WhatsApp export file, not a database read, and that Exhibitly cannot tell whether the file was changed before it was imported. Its SHA-256 is recorded when Exhibitly reads it, so later changes can be detected. If your Mac has a Finder backup of the iPhone, Exhibitly can read WhatsApp from the backup instead, which carries exact times. Everything stays on your Mac and works offline. Free preview: 50 messages per export, with a watermark on the PDF.

Download Exhibitly (free preview) or look at a sample export first. macOS 14 or later. Prices: Personal USD 39, Evidence Bundle USD 69, one time.

Is a WhatsApp export accepted in court?

That is for the court to decide. An export is a text file made by the phone and anyone could have edited it, so courts and opposing sides often want more: the phone itself, the other person’s copy, or you confirming under oath that the messages are genuine. A PDF does not make messages authentic. Ask a lawyer what your court expects.