Can You Import an Exported WhatsApp Chat?

By Josep Mampel Marques, updated November 9, 2026

No. You cannot import an exported WhatsApp chat back into WhatsApp. WhatsApp's help center says the exported chat history is a text file, not a backup, so it cannot be re-imported, whether it is a .zip or a .txt. To get chats back into WhatsApp you need a backup or a chat transfer. What you can still do with an export is open it and read it: PrintChats shows it as a chat with photos, lets you search it and saves it as a PDF, all in your browser.

Why an export cannot go back in

An export is made for people, not for the app. It is a list of lines with date, time, sender and text, and media saved as separate files. A backup is made for WhatsApp: it keeps the chat data in the form the app restores from, tied to your account and phone number. WhatsApp offers a restore option for backups and a transfer option between phones, and neither of them accepts an export file. The differences are laid out in WhatsApp backup vs export chat.

If you want the chats back in WhatsApp

1. Check for a backup. On your phone, open WhatsApp, then Settings, Chats, Chat backup. It shows when the last backup was made and where it is stored (Google Account on Android, iCloud on iPhone, or WhatsApp's own cloud storage where offered).
2. Restore it when you set up WhatsApp on the phone with the same phone number and account that made the backup. WhatsApp offers to restore during setup.
3. Or transfer from the old phone if you still have it. Between two Android phones or two iPhones, WhatsApp's chat transfer copies the history directly. Between Android and iPhone there are separate steps.
4. Do not delete anything on the old phone until you have confirmed that the chats arrived on the new one.

If none of these is possible, for example because the old phone is gone and there was no backup, the export is the only copy left. Keep it safe.

What you can do with an export

• Read it as a conversation. Open the .zip or .txt in PrintChats, pick your name under I am, and read it as bubbles with the photos that came with the export.
• Search it. Type a word or a name in Search, or set From and To to jump to a period. More in searching a WhatsApp chat by date or keyword.
• Print it or save it as a PDF, with photos, for yourself or for someone else.
• Keep it as an archive. The file does not depend on WhatsApp, your phone or your account, so it stays readable even if you stop using the app.

Opening the export with PrintChats does not change it and does not upload it. The file is read in your browser tab and nothing is kept after you close it. For other ways to open the file, see how to open and read an exported WhatsApp chat.

Avoid the next lost chat

• Turn on automatic backups in Settings, Chats, Chat backup, and check now and then that the last backup date is recent.
• If you turn on end-to-end encrypted backup, store the password or key safely. WhatsApp says it cannot reset it or restore the backup for you if you lose it.
• Export the few chats you would hate to lose, so you also have a copy you can read without WhatsApp.
• Before changing or resetting your phone, follow the checklist for changing phones.