WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. It offers end-to-end encryption, allowing you to have private conversations with your contacts. Sometimes you may want to email an entire WhatsApp conversation to yourself or someone else for record keeping or other purposes. But is this possible to do?
Can You Email an Entire WhatsApp Conversation?
The short answer is yes, you can email an entire WhatsApp conversation history. However, WhatsApp does not have a built-in feature to allow you to directly email conversations. So you will need to use some workarounds to export your chats and then email them.
There are a few different methods you can use to email your full WhatsApp conversations:
- Email chat history via email chat integration
- Forward chat via email
- Export chat to PDF and email
- Use third party apps to export and email chats
Each method has its pros and cons which we will explore in detail below. With the right technique, you can export your full chat history including images, videos, files, and messages and email it to yourself or share with others.
Method 1: Email Chat History Via Email Chat Integration
One easy way to email your WhatsApp chats is by integrating an email address with WhatsApp. This allows you to directly forward an entire conversation via email from within WhatsApp.
Here is how to integrate an email with WhatsApp chat:
- Open WhatsApp and go to Settings > Linked Devices
- Tap on ‘Add email address’
- Enter the email address you want to link and tap ‘Ok’
- Check your email inbox for a confirmation code from WhatsApp and enter it
Once your email is linked, you can email a chat by:
- Opening the WhatsApp conversation you want to email
- Tap More (3 dots) > More > Email chat
- Select the email address linked to WhatsApp
- Tap ‘Send’ to email the chat
This will send the entire chat history as email attachments to the linked email. All messages, photos, videos, and files will be included as attachments.
The advantages of this method are:
- Easy to use integrated feature within WhatsApp
- Keeps all media formatted as attachments
- Free to use
The disadvantages are:
- Need to link an email to WhatsApp first
- Sends lots of individual attachments vs one PDF
- Only works for email services compatible with WhatsApp
Method 2: Forward Chats Via Email
Another way is to manually forward your WhatsApp chats via email. This involves selecting each message and using the forward function to send to an email address.
Here are the steps to forward WhatsApp chats via email:
- Open the WhatsApp conversation you want to forward
- Long press on a message bubble and tap Forward
- Tap the Email icon at the top
- Select an email address and tap Send
- Repeat for additional messages in the chat
This will forward individual messages or selections of messages to an email address as attachments. You can repeat the process to forward an entire long conversation via email.
The pros of forwarding by email are:
- Works for any email address
- Lets you select parts of a chat to send
- Keeps media formats intact
The cons are:
- Time consuming to forward long chats
- Sends individual email attachments
- Easy to miss messages
Method 3: Export Chat to PDF and Email
A third option is to export your WhatsApp conversation as a PDF document, then attach and email the PDF. This condenses your chat into one file that is easy to email.
Here are the steps to use this method:
- Install and open a PDF converter app like Adobe Scan
- In WhatsApp, open the chat you want to export
- Take a screenshot of each page of the chat
- Import the screenshots into the PDF app
- Rearrange them in order and save as a PDF
- Attach the PDF and email it
The advantages of this technique are:
- Compiles chat into one PDF file
- Easy to email single PDF attachment
- Works for any email address
The disadvantages are:
- Time consuming to take screenshots
- Loses some original formatting
- Large chats result in big PDFs
Method 4: Use Third Party Apps
There are also several third party apps you can use to export your WhatsApp chats and email them more easily. Here are some top options:
4SMS Export
4SMS Export is an Android app that allows exporting chats as text, PDF, or spreadsheet files. You can then email the exported files. Pros are easy chat export and integrated email sharing. Cons are cost and Android only.
WAMR
WAMR is an iOS app that exports WhatsApp chats to PDF while retaining all formatting. Easy to email the PDF file from your iPhone. But costs $6 and iOS only.
Backuptrans
Backuptrans is a desktop program that extracts chats from iPhone or Android backups. You can export chats in HTML or PDF format to email. But it costs $29 for the software.
| App | Platform | Price | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4SMS Export | Android | $10 | Easy chat export, built-in email | Paid, Android only |
| WAMR | iOS | $6 | Keeps formatting, PDF export | Paid, iOS only |
| Backuptrans | Desktop | $29 | Extracts from backups | Costs money, requires backup |
The advantage of third party apps is they provide more options for exporting and emailing chats. The disadvantages are most paid apps and platform specific.
Conclusion
While WhatsApp doesn’t have a built-in feature to email entire conversations, there are several workarounds to export your chats to email the history. You can utilize integrated email forwarding, manually forward chats, export them to PDF, or use third party apps to get your WhatsApp conversations into an emailable format.
The best options balance ease of use with retaining original formatting. For occasional use, forwarding chats or PDF export works fine. For regularly emailing conversations, a specialized app can automate the process.
With billions of users worldwide, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform. Now you know how to email those private chats if you ever need to. You can email a whole WhatsApp conversation through several different methods.
WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption ensures your chats stay private as they are sent. But once received on your device, you have options to export and email conversations when needed. This allows you to keep records of important chats for your reference.
So if you were wondering “can you email a whole WhatsApp conversation?”, the answer is yes! With the techniques outlined, you can export and email your full WhatsApp chat history to share or retain copies when required. Just choose the best method based on your needs.