WA Chat Export

Chat-export tool for unencrypted WhatsApp databases

With this script, you can export all chats and group-chats from a WhatsApp database to a readable and searchable plaintext file format. The script reads the SQLite files msgstore.db and wa.db which provide the actual messages and the contact's names, respectively. The exported per-chat text files are placed in a timestamped folder.

Note: Only message text is exported. For media files, if there is a caption, that is exported, too. If a message or media file was forwarded, the export says so. Media file thumbnails are not exported, though stored in the database.

Warning: Working with unencrypted databases and plain text exports defeats the purpose of secure messaging. Please do not use this script for exporting private or privacy-critical chats.

Usage

Copy the unencrypted databases from your mobile device.
Personally, I boot my unrooted device to TWRP Recovery, connect via USB and then issue the following commands:

adb pull /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db
adb pull /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/wa.db

In your terminal or console session, call the export script:

$ ./wa-chat-export.php --help

WA Chat Export v0.2
Chat-export tool for unencrypted WhatsApp databases

Usage: ./wa-chat-export.php OPTIONS

[ -h | --help ]              show this help message and exit
[ -a | --addressdb= ] FILE   path to WhatsApp addressbook file
[ -m | --messagedb= ] FILE   path to WhatsApp database file
[ -n | --number= ] NUMBER    phonenumber of the exporting user, e.g. +31612345678 
[ -o | --outdir= ] DIRECTORY output folder, defaults to parent of database file

Example

Using short options:

./wa-chat-export.php -a wa.db -m msgstore.db -n "+31612345678"

Or using corresponding long options:

./wa-chat-export.php --addressdb=wa.db --messagedb=msgstore.db --number="+31612345678"

After a while, the script finishes and reports the number of exported chats.

216 chat(s) exported successfully.

A possible single chat export might look like this:

; WA Chat Export v0.2
; Creates a readable export of WhatsApp's chat history
;
; Export started: 2022-02-03 17:19:08 +01:00
; Group chat: no
;
; Participants in this chat:
;  +31612345678: Alice
;  +31687654321: Bob

[2016-07-12 08:16:32 +02:00] Alice: Hi Bob, how are you?
[2016-07-12 10:09:36 +02:00]   Bob: Hi.
[2016-07-26 09:37:42 +02:00]   Bob: I'm fine, how's your cat doing?
[2016-07-26 09:38:27 +02:00] Alice: (media file) Photo of my cat
[2016-07-26 09:39:25 +02:00]   Bob: Waw!
...

Installation

Install git, php and composer
Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/fwiep/wa-chat-export.git
Navigate into the cloned repository
cd wa-chat-export
Install dependencies
composer install

Afterthoughts

Of course, the point of any end-to-end encrypted communication is to keep the sent and received messages secure and private. Working with unencrypted databases and usage of an export-tool like this is not in line with that effort.

Therefore, please look at this script as a tool for your convenience. It enables you to easily review and search your chat's contents. After these actions, be sure to securely delete the exported files and unencrypted databases.

Alternatives

When preparing this project for publication on GitHub, I discovered WhaPa, a platform independent toolset for WhatsApp forensics, written in Python 3. It provides a lot more functionality than this script does, so feel free to pay them a visit and enjoy their work!

fwiep / wa-chat-export