How to Turn a WhatsApp Chat into a Book (with Photos)

Updated 13 September 2026

Somewhere in your phone is a conversation you would hate to lose: the first messages with the person you married, years of a family group sharing baby photos, a friend who isn’t around any more.

Scrolling back through years of messages on a small screen isn’t how anyone wants to relive them. A book is. Here is how to make one, from a free text-only version to a designed book with every photo.

Step 1: Export the chat from WhatsApp

Every method starts with WhatsApp’s built-in export. You don’t need a backup tool or a computer.

On Android

Open the chat you want to keep (one-to-one or group).
Tap ⋮ in the top-right corner, then More → Export chat.
Choose Include media to keep photos, or Without media for text only.
Save the file to your phone or share it straight to an app.

On iPhone

Open the chat and tap the contact or group name at the top.
Scroll down and tap Export Chat.
Choose Attach Media to keep photos, or Without Media for text only.
Save it to Files or share it.

What the export contains

You get a .zip file with a _chat.txt inside — every message as plain text, with the date, time and sender — plus the photos, videos, voice notes and documents if you included media.

WhatsApp caps exports: about 10,000 of the most recent messages when media is included, and about 40,000 without. For a very long chat, a text-only export captures more of the history.

Step 2: Decide what kind of book you want

An archive: a readable copy that doesn’t depend on WhatsApp or your phone.
A gift: something that looks designed, for an anniversary, birthday or farewell.
A printed book: a PDF you take to a print shop or photo-book printer.

Step 3: Turn the export into a book

The free way: open _chat.txt on a computer, set a readable font, and use Print → Save as PDF. It costs nothing, but you get no photos and no layout — every line reads like a log file.

The designed way: share the export to Chatcraft. It reads the chat on your phone, places each photo next to its message, and lays everything out as a book in one of 60 themes. Nothing is uploaded. Snow, Ember, Midnight are free to export with a small watermark.

Tips for a book people will actually read

Pick a date range. A whole five-year chat can run to hundreds of pages; one trip or your first year makes a better gift.
Include media. Photos turn a transcript into a memory.
Choose the page size: A4 or Letter for standard printing, Legal or Tall to fit more messages on each page.
Keep sender names for group chats; for two people they are often cleaner off.
Preview a few pages at full zoom before printing.
For group chats, check with the others first — their messages are in the book too.

Questions

Can I turn a WhatsApp chat into a book for free?

Yes. Print _chat.txt to PDF for a text-only copy, or use Chatcraft’s free themes (Snow, Ember, Midnight), which export the full book with photos and a small watermark.

Does it work with iPhone chats?

Chatcraft is an Android app (Android 7.0+). iPhone exports are fully supported — export on the iPhone, send the file to an Android phone and open it there.

Why is part of my chat missing?