Convert WhatsApp Chats to PDF: Court-Ready, Free, and Nothing Leaves Your Device

This turns a WhatsApp chat export into a clean, readable PDF built for legal and record-keeping use, with timestamps, numbered messages and pages, exhibit numbering, a digital fingerprint of your original file, and a declaration page you can sign. It runs entirely in your browser: your messages never leave your device, and you can prove it by turning off your internet before you convert. Free, no account, no per-document fee.

Printing WhatsApp messages for court

If you need to bring a WhatsApp conversation into a custody case, a divorce, a protective-order filing, a tenancy dispute, or a workplace complaint, a wall of screenshots is hard to follow and easy to challenge. A single continuous document (every message in order, with its date, time and sender, and page numbers you can cite) reads far more clearly. The court-ready preset produces exactly that, and adds the things a records exhibit is usually expected to carry:

  • • A cover listing the participants, the date range covered, and how many messages are included.
  • • A numbered handle on every message (like #1042) so a specific line can be referenced.
  • • Optional exhibit / Bates-style page numbering, such as SMITH-000001, continuous across every page.
  • • An integrity page recording the source file's name, size and a digital fingerprint.
  • • A declaration page you fill in and sign yourself.

This is general information about formatting a record, not legal advice. Whether messages can be admitted, and what a particular court requires, varies by jurisdiction, so check with a lawyer about your situation.

Using text messages as evidence: why we won't let you edit

A document you can edit is a document the other side can question. So this tool has no edit button. None. It reproduces your export word for word, exactly as your own phone wrote it. The only thing you control is what to leave out: you can limit the date range or leave a participant out, and wherever you do, the PDF prints a clear marker, “[N messages withheld by the preparer]”, instead of quietly dropping anything. That honesty is the point: nothing is hidden, and nothing is changed.

What makes this PDF court-ready

Beyond a tidy layout, the court preset records a digital fingerprint of your original file: a unique code that changes completely if even one character of the file changes, so anyone can confirm they're looking at the same file you started from. It notes how the dates were read (and your choice if the format was ambiguous), how many lines were read, and which attachments were found. The final page is your own signed declaration that you exported the chat from your device and didn't alter it. The tool formats and fingerprints; it never claims to verify who wrote the messages.

How to export your WhatsApp chat (iPhone and Android)

On iPhone

Open the chat, tap the contact or group name at the top, scroll down and tap Export Chat, then choose Attach Media (a .zip with photos) or Without Media (a .txt). Save it to Files, then open this page and pick that file.

On Android

Open the chat, tap the menu, choose More → Export chat, then pick Include media or Without media. Save the file, then open this page and choose it.

Either format works. “With media” gives you inline photos in the PDF; “without media” is a smaller text-only export.

How it works

1

Export the chat on your phone

Use WhatsApp's own “Export Chat”, with or without media, and save the file.

2

Review what was read

See the messages laid out like a chat, with the count, participants and dates confirmed up front. If any line couldn't be read, it's surfaced before you export, never lost quietly.

3

Create and share the PDF

Choose the court-ready or simple preset and create the PDF, then save it or share it straight to email, your files, or your attorney.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my chat uploaded anywhere? +
No. Your chat export is read and turned into a PDF entirely on your own device: it is never uploaded anywhere. You can disconnect your internet before converting to see for yourself that it still works.
Can WhatsApp messages be used as evidence in court? +
Often they can, but the rules for admitting messages vary by court and jurisdiction and can depend on showing where they came from and that they weren't altered. This tool helps by reproducing your export word for word, recording a digital fingerprint of your file, and marking anything you leave out, but it isn't legal advice. Ask a lawyer about your specific case.
Can I edit the messages before exporting? +
No, and that's deliberate. A document you can edit is easy to challenge, so this tool reproduces your export exactly and never lets you change message text. You can choose to leave out a date range or a participant, and every gap is clearly marked as withheld, never removed silently.
Why do my dates look wrong? +
WhatsApp writes dates in the format of the phone that made the export, so 03/04/2025 can mean 3 April or March 4 depending on the region. The tool works this out automatically when it can, and asks you once if a file is genuinely ambiguous. Your choice is recorded on the integrity page.
Does it include photos and attachments? +
If you export “with media” (a .zip), photos are embedded inline beneath their message with an attachment reference. Videos, voice notes and documents are listed as references so nothing is dropped silently, and a manifest records every attachment.
Can I convert iMessage or plain text messages too? +
This tool works with WhatsApp exports. iMessage has no export file a browser can read, so it isn't supported here. If you have screenshots of texts, our Image to Text tool can pull the words out of them.