Chatcove

Get your WhatsApp history off your iPhone, onto your Mac or PC.

Chatcove backs up and exports your entire WhatsApp history to your Mac or Windows PC. Buy once. Runs locally. Completely private.

Get Chatcove - $9Free to try
  • Right-to-left languages supported
  • macOS 12+ or Windows 10+
  • No subscription
  • Not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta
Chatcove
Chatcove on a Mac, showing your full WhatsApp chat list
Encrypted backup
Every chat and media
Export anywhere

See every conversation,then take it with you.

Browse your whole WhatsApp history right on your Mac or PC, with every photo, video, and voice note in place. When you are ready, export any chat to a format you get to keep.

  • Full conversations with photos, videos, and voice notes
  • Right-to-left languages render correctly
  • Export any chat to HTML, PDF, TXT, or CSV
  • Insights on who you talk to and when
Chatcove showing a full WhatsApp conversation with photos and voice notes on a Mac
Chatcove export dialog offering HTML, PDF, TXT, and CSV formats
Chatcove insights view showing who you talk to and when

Everything you need to own your chat history

Encrypted iPhone backup

WhatsApp only ships its history inside an encrypted backup. Chatcove sets and remembers a strong password for you.

Browse every chat

Full conversations, right-to-left languages, photos, videos, and voice notes, exactly as they were.

Export anywhere

Save any chat as HTML, PDF, TXT, or CSV.

Media galleries

Every photo, video, and voice note, kept with the conversation.

Insights

See who you talk to most, when, and how much.

100% local

No cloud, no account. Your chats never leave your computer.

How it works

From your iPhone to your Mac or PC in three steps.

A few minutes, and every chat lives safely on your computer.

1

Connect your iPhone

Plug it into your Mac or PC and unlock it.

2

Chatcove makes a secure backup

It turns on encryption and backs up WhatsApp for you. You tap your passcode once.

3

Browse and export

Read every chat and save it as HTML, PDF, TXT, or CSV.

Get Chatcove - $9Free to try. Buy once, no subscription.

Your chats never leave your computer.

Privacy is not a setting in Chatcove. It is the architecture. Every step happens on your computer, from reading your iPhone backup to writing the files you export. Nothing syncs, nothing uploads your history, and nothing phones home with your messages.

No cloud. No account. No telemetry.

Chatcove has no backend for your chats to sit in. There is nothing to sign up for, nothing syncs to a server, and no analytics ever read your chats. No server ever sees your messages.

  • No cloud
  • No account
  • No telemetry
  • No server sees your messages

  • Local-only

    Every step runs on your computer: reading the backup, decrypting it, and building your export. None of it touches a server.

  • Encrypted Apple backup

    Chatcove works from an encrypted iOS backup, so your history is protected by Apple's own encryption on the way in.

  • Read-only by design

    Chatcove opens your databases read-only. It reads your history and never writes back to your phone.

  • Open formats you own

    Export to plain HTML, PDF, TXT, or CSV. Standard files you can open, search, and keep forever, with no lock-in.

  • No tracking

    Zero analytics on your chat content. Chatcove does not measure, profile, or report what is inside your conversations.

  • Minimal network

    The only automatic network calls Chatcove makes are license checks and update checks, and your messages are never part of them. A problem report goes out only if you choose to send one.

Back up, browse and export with the network off. The only automatic network calls Chatcove makes are an update check and a license check, which registers your computer when you activate and lets it work offline for up to 21 days between re-checks. Your messages are never part of either. Nothing else leaves your computer unless you choose to send us a problem report.

The rest of the category went up. We went the other way.

Saving your chat history is something most people do once, when they change phones. Chatcove is priced like that, and you can read your whole history before deciding to pay at all.

“In June 2025, we discontinued the device license and now only offer subscriptions.”
iMazing, on its own licensing policy page
Chatcove$9

One time · 2 devices

Read your entire history before you pay anything

Decipher Chat$19.99

One time · 2 iPhones

Backuptrans$24.95

One time · 3 phones

iMazing$29.99 a year

Subscription only · 1 device ($49.99 for 5)

Retired its one-time licence in June 2025

Dr.Fone$39.95

One time, or $29.95/yr · 2 Macs

MobileTrans$59.99

One time, or $44.99/yr · 1 computer

iCareFone$69.95

One time, or $59.95/yr · 1 Mac

Every tool compared, with formatsThe full iMazing comparisonEvery tool, with real pricesHow to export, including the free way

Prices are the cheapest tier that exports WhatsApp on a Mac, in US dollars before tax, checked on each vendor's own store page on 8 October 2026. “Not stated” means the vendor's page does not say. Prices change, and these may have moved since. All trademarks belong to their owners.

Pricing

One price. Yours forever.

No subscription, no account, no cloud. Pay once and Chatcove is yours.

Chatcove for Mac or Windows
$9one-time

Buy once. Yours forever. Not a subscription.

  • Unlimited chats and exports
  • All formats (HTML, PDF, TXT, CSV)
  • Photos, videos, voice notes
  • Insights dashboard
  • Use on up to 2 devices, Mac or Windows
  • Free updates for the current version
  • Works offline between license checks
Get Chatcove - $9

Browse everything free. The trial also includes 3 exports of one chat each, with a small watermark, so you can see exactly how it works before you buy.
On a Mac: Apple Silicon (M1 or later) on macOS 12 Monterey or later.
On Windows: a 64-bit (x64) PC running Windows 10 (version 22H2) or Windows 11, with the free Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store (or iTunes) for the iPhone driver.

30-day money-back guarantee.

Chatcove at a glance

What it does
Exports and backs up WhatsApp chats from an iPhone to a Mac or Windows PC, with photos, videos and voice notes kept in the conversation.
Price
$9 (USD), paid once. No subscription, no account.
License
One license covers up to 2 devices, Mac or Windows. Free updates for the current version. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Free trial
Backing up, reading and searching your whole history is free, with no time limit. The trial includes 3 exports of one chat each, with a small watermark line.
Runs on
Mac (Apple Silicon only, macOS 12 or later) and Windows (Windows 10 22H2 or later, x64). Windows also needs the free Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store.
Works with
An iPhone connected to the computer for the backup step, then unplugged. Regular WhatsApp; WhatsApp Business is not supported.
Export formats
HTML, PDF, TXT, CSV, with photos, videos and voice notes. Any chat, group chats included.
Privacy
Everything runs locally on your computer. Chats, backups and exports are never uploaded. The only automatic network calls are a license check and an update check, and neither carries chat content.
Made by
Codama (developer Nadav Cohen). Current version 0.1.8 on the Mac, 0.2.0 on Windows. Not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta.

Frequently asked questions

Short, honest answers. If yours is not here, email hello@chatcove.app.

  • For one conversation as plain text, WhatsApp's built-in Export Chat is free and enough. For your whole history in a readable format, with photos, videos and voice notes in place, use a desktop app that reads an encrypted iPhone backup. Chatcove does this for $9 once, on a Mac or a Windows PC: it backs up the iPhone locally, lets you browse every chat, and exports to HTML, PDF, TXT or CSV.

  • Yes. iMazing has been subscription-only since June 2025, from $29.99 a year for 1 device. Chatcove does the WhatsApp export part for $9 once on up to 2 devices, Mac or Windows. iMazing does much more (it is a full device manager) and also runs on Intel Macs, which Chatcove does not.

  • Not with WhatsApp's own export, which produces a text file and loose attachments. Chatcove lays out the conversation with each photo where it was sent and exports it to PDF or HTML. Voice notes play in the HTML export; in a PDF they appear as an entry with sender, time and length.

  • Yes. Chatcove's CSV export has one row per message with the time (in UTC), sender and text, written as UTF-8 so Excel shows emoji and non-Latin text correctly. It can also write one combined file with every chat.

  • Yes. Chatcove is $9 once for up to 2 devices, Mac or Windows. Of the paid tools we compare, Backuptrans, Decipher Chat, Dr.Fone, iCareFone and MobileTrans also sell one-time licences, at higher prices; iMazing is subscription only.

  • It is the password that protects your iPhone's backups on a computer, set with Encrypt local backup in Finder or by an app. It is not your iPhone passcode, your Apple ID password or your Mac login. Chatcove needs backup encryption on, because WhatsApp chats are only in encrypted backups. If you never set one, Chatcove sets one and keeps it on your Mac. If you forgot it, Reset All Settings on the iPhone removes it without deleting your data. Full guide: https://chatcove.app/backup-password/

  • Windows warns because the Chatcove installer for Windows is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen does not know its publisher. That is a reputation warning, not a virus detection, and it goes away once the signed version is out. Chatcove is made by Codama, the makers of the Mac version, and keeps everything on your computer. Download it only from chatcove.app or our GitHub releases page, check its SHA-256 fingerprint if you like, then click More info and Run anyway. If Smart App Control is on, it blocks the installer completely, and we suggest waiting for the signed version. Microsoft has not reviewed Chatcove. Full guide: https://chatcove.app/windows-install/

  • Yes. Chatcove makes a standard encrypted iPhone backup, which is where WhatsApp keeps its history.

  • Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or later) running macOS 12 Monterey or later, and 64-bit (x64) Windows PCs: Windows 10 (version 22H2) or Windows 11, with the free Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store (or iTunes) for the iPhone driver. Intel Macs and macOS 11 or earlier are not supported. If you need Intel Mac support, email hello@chatcove.app and we will tell you when that changes.

  • Completely. Everything runs on your computer, with no cloud and no account, and your chats never leave your machine. The only automatic network calls are a license check and an update check, and neither carries any chat content. Nothing else leaves your computer unless you choose to send us a problem report, and you see everything in it before it goes.

  • Backing up, reading, searching and browsing your whole history with its media are free, with no time limit. The trial also includes 3 exports of one chat each, with a small watermark line, so you can check the output on your own data. Buying removes the limits and the watermark.

  • Up to 2 devices, Mac or Windows.

  • Only for the backup step. After that you can unplug it and keep browsing and exporting on your computer.

  • Any chat as HTML, PDF, TXT, or CSV, including media.

  • No. Chatcove is an independent app by Codama and is not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta.

  • Yes, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.

  • Not yet. Today Chatcove focuses on WhatsApp; iMessage is planned.

Get your chats off your iPhone today.

Buy once for $9 and use Chatcove on up to 2 devices, Mac or Windows. Free to try: browse every chat, and export up to 3 chats, one at a time, before you pay. Everything runs on your computer.

Get Chatcove - $9Download for Mac
Also for Windows

Windows says the app is unsafe? Here is why, and what to do

On a Mac: Apple Silicon (M1 or later) on macOS 12 Monterey or later. On Windows: a 64-bit (x64) PC running Windows 10 (version 22H2) or Windows 11, with the free Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store (or iTunes) for the iPhone driver.

Questions? Email hello@chatcove.app