The reading room

A clearer record starts
with a little know-how.

Useful, straightforward ways to save, organize, and read important conversations. Start with the source you have or the task you need to do.

Five guides. A few good starting points.

WhatsApp exports

Get a reading copy, and understand what you have.

Save a WhatsApp conversation from your iPhone, understand the ZIP and text files, and check what the export actually includes.

An export is a reading copy. A backup is for restoring chat history. Understand which one to use and why neither replaces the other.

Bring visible conversations onto a readable page.

Print readable message screenshots with Apple’s built-in tools, check page order, and understand what the paper copy leaves out.

Create an image-based PDF from message screenshots with Apple’s tools, preserve the originals, and review order and OCR limits.

Keep the source, and make changes on a copy.

Keep an untouched source set, make working copies, and document what changed when preparing a readable conversation record.