Updated Sep 28, 2026
WhatsApp does not have an account-wide export, which surprises anyone who assumes every messaging app works the same way. Your chat text comes out one conversation at a time, with media downloaded separately and sometimes not retrievable at all. The account report does cover everything else you hold, subscriptions, payments, devices, linked apps, but it contains no messages whatsoever.
What you'll get
Before you start
- Decide which job you are doing first, because they are separate and neither covers the other.
- For chat text: open WhatsApp on your phone, or on WhatsApp Web in a browser. Both export chats.
- For the account report: you need the mobile app. This one is not on WhatsApp Web or the desktop app.
- If you have a lot of chats, open Account Information in settings and turn on Create Reports Automatically. It generates a fresh report on a schedule instead of you waiting for each request, which is the difference between a two day wait and remembering to ask at all.
How to download
- To export a chat: open it, tap the contact name or group header, scroll to the bottom, and tap Export chat. Choose Include media or Without media. Without media is dramatically smaller and much faster if you mostly want the words.
- The exported file is a .txt with a .zip of attachments beside it. Keep them together or the text makes no sense on its own.
- To get the account report: open Settings, then Account, then Request account info, then tap Request report. You get a notification on the device when it is ready.
- It usually takes two or three days. Older coverage said longer, and large accounts can still take a while, but if a week goes by with nothing, request it again.
- Tap Download report when the notification arrives, then Export report to save the ZIP off the phone.
Pro tip
Two different tools do two different jobs, and confusing them is the most common mistake here. Export Chat gets you the actual message content, one conversation at a time. Request account info gets you your profile, device list and contacts, and no message content whatsoever. If someone tells you the account report is your chat backup, they have not opened it.
After the download
- The account report is worth keeping, not deleting. It is a small ZIP of your profile data, device list, contacts and blocks, and it is the only place WhatsApp gives you that in one piece.
- Look at the device list in the report. Anything you do not recognise is worth knowing about before you need to.
- Chat exports are the ones that multiply. Each one is a separate .txt plus a .zip, and a few years of daily conversations is a lot of files. Put them in one folder named whatsapp-2026-09 and do not try to tidy them later.
- A tool like WhatsApp Viewer reads the .txt exports in a browser, which beats opening forty of them in a text editor when you want to search for something.
- Media-heavy exports get big fast. If size is the problem, redo the chats that matter most with Without media, and accept that the older photo archives stay on your phone.