WhatsApp export tools for Mac, compared honestly
Seven ways to get WhatsApp off an iPhone and onto a Mac, with the facts each vendor states on its own pages: price, pricing model, export formats, WhatsApp Business support and where it runs. Including the places where we are not the right choice.
Short answer
For one chat as text, WhatsApp's free Export Chat is enough. For your whole history with media in a readable format, Chatcove is the cheapest paid tool here at $9 once, if your Mac meets its requirements (Mac: Apple Silicon only, macOS 12 or later). On an Intel Mac or Windows, or for WhatsApp Business, pick one of the other tools in the table.
Prices and features checked 8 October 2026.
Disclosure first: we make Chatcove, which is in this table. Every other row comes from the vendor's own store or product page, linked at the bottom, so you can check any cell yourself. Where a vendor does not state something, the cell says “not listed” rather than a guess.
The comparison
| Tool | Cheapest Mac price | Pricing model | Devices | Export formats | WhatsApp Business | Runs on | Try before paying |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chatcove | $9 | One time | 2 Macs | HTML, PDF, TXT, CSV, with photos, videos and voice notes | No (regular WhatsApp only) | Mac: Apple Silicon only, macOS 12 or later | Read your whole history free, plus 3 trial exports |
| WhatsApp Export Chat | Free | Built into the app | On the phone | TXT, with attachments as separate files | Yes | On the phone itself | It is free |
| Decipher Chat | $19.99 | One time | 2 phones, any number of computers | Save and print; file formats not listed | Not listed | Mac and Windows | Free trial, limits not listed |
| Backuptrans | $24.95 | One time (Family $34.95) | 3 phones (Family: 8) | TXT, CSV, DOC, HTML, PDF | Separate product | Mac and Windows. Mac page lists macOS 10.7 to 12 Monterey | Free download, trial limits not listed |
| iMazing | $29.99 a year | Subscription only since June 2025 | 1 phone; $49.99 for 5, $89.99 for 20 | PDF, CSV, Text, RSMF (RSMF needs Business) | Not checked | Mac (Intel and Apple Silicon) and Windows | Free trial; WhatsApp transfers capped at 25 items |
| Dr.Fone | $39.95 | One time, or $29.95 a year, or $23.95 a month | 2 Macs, 1 to 5 phones | Export to Mac; file formats not listed on the store page | Yes | Mac and Windows | Free download, limits not listed |
| MobileTrans | $59.99 | One time, or $44.99 a year, or $25.99 a month | 1 computer, 1 to 5 phones | Not listed on the store page | Yes | Mac and Windows | Free trial with item limits |
| iCareFone | $69.95 | One time, or $59.95 a year, or $24.95 a month | 1 Mac, 5 phones | HTML | Yes | Mac and Windows | Free backup on iOS; a 7-day trial that renews at $29.95 a month |
- Pricing model:
- One time
- Devices:
- 2 Macs
- Export formats:
- HTML, PDF, TXT, CSV, with photos, videos and voice notes
- WhatsApp Business:
- No (regular WhatsApp only)
- Runs on:
- Mac: Apple Silicon only, macOS 12 or later
- Try before paying:
- Read your whole history free, plus 3 trial exports
- Pricing model:
- Built into the app
- Devices:
- On the phone
- Export formats:
- TXT, with attachments as separate files
- WhatsApp Business:
- Yes
- Runs on:
- On the phone itself
- Try before paying:
- It is free
- Pricing model:
- One time
- Devices:
- 2 phones, any number of computers
- Export formats:
- Save and print; file formats not listed
- WhatsApp Business:
- Not listed
- Runs on:
- Mac and Windows
- Try before paying:
- Free trial, limits not listed
- Pricing model:
- One time (Family $34.95)
- Devices:
- 3 phones (Family: 8)
- Export formats:
- TXT, CSV, DOC, HTML, PDF
- WhatsApp Business:
- Separate product
- Runs on:
- Mac and Windows. Mac page lists macOS 10.7 to 12 Monterey
- Try before paying:
- Free download, trial limits not listed
- Pricing model:
- Subscription only since June 2025
- Devices:
- 1 phone; $49.99 for 5, $89.99 for 20
- Export formats:
- PDF, CSV, Text, RSMF (RSMF needs Business)
- WhatsApp Business:
- Not checked
- Runs on:
- Mac (Intel and Apple Silicon) and Windows
- Try before paying:
- Free trial; WhatsApp transfers capped at 25 items
- Pricing model:
- One time, or $29.95 a year, or $23.95 a month
- Devices:
- 2 Macs, 1 to 5 phones
- Export formats:
- Export to Mac; file formats not listed on the store page
- WhatsApp Business:
- Yes
- Runs on:
- Mac and Windows
- Try before paying:
- Free download, limits not listed
- Pricing model:
- One time, or $44.99 a year, or $25.99 a month
- Devices:
- 1 computer, 1 to 5 phones
- Export formats:
- Not listed on the store page
- WhatsApp Business:
- Yes
- Runs on:
- Mac and Windows
- Try before paying:
- Free trial with item limits
- Pricing model:
- One time, or $59.95 a year, or $24.95 a month
- Devices:
- 1 Mac, 5 phones
- Export formats:
- HTML
- WhatsApp Business:
- Yes
- Runs on:
- Mac and Windows
- Try before paying:
- Free backup on iOS; a 7-day trial that renews at $29.95 a month
Read on each vendor's own store or product page on 8 October 2026, in US dollars before any sales tax or VAT. Where a vendor's page does not say something, the cell says so. Prices change, so check the cart total before you buy anything, including ours. All trademarks belong to their owners, and no vendor here is affiliated with Chatcove.
How to read it
- The price is the cheapest tier that exports WhatsApp on a Mac, which is the only like-for-like comparison. Several vendors sell bigger bundles too.
- Transfer tools and export tools are different things. Dr.Fone, iCareFone and Backuptrans are built mainly to move WhatsApp between phones, including between iPhone and Android. Chatcove and the export side of iMazing are built to give you files you can read, print and keep.
- “Lifetime” and “one time” are worth reading closely. In this category they sometimes mean the current major version. That includes ours: one payment, free updates to the version you buy, and if a future major version is ever a paid upgrade, our terms say we will tell you plainly.
- Check the cart total. Some checkout pages in this category add trials or extras next to the buy button. Our price comparison lists the ones we found.
Which one fits your job
- One chat, and a text file is fine: WhatsApp's own Export Chat. Free, and nothing here beats free for that.
- Your whole history, readable, with photos and voice notes, on an Apple Silicon Mac on macOS 12 or later: Chatcove, $9 once. Read everything free first, then decide.
- Moving WhatsApp between an iPhone and an Android phone: a transfer tool such as Dr.Fone or iCareFone, or WhatsApp's own transfer.
- WhatsApp Business: not us yet. Dr.Fone and iCareFone list it.
- An Intel Mac, a Mac on macOS 11 or earlier, or a Windows PC: not us either. Decipher Chat at $19.99 once is the cheapest option on this page that runs there.
- A whole iPhone manager, not just chats: iMazing. The subscription pays for a lot of breadth. Our iMazing comparison goes through it.
- The widest choice of file formats: Backuptrans lists TXT, CSV, DOC, HTML and PDF. Check its stated macOS support first; see Chatcove vs Backuptrans.
Where the others are stronger
A comparison that never concedes a point is an advert. So, plainly:
- Platforms. Every other paid tool here also sells a Windows version, and none of them states an Apple Silicon-only requirement. Chatcove needs an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later) runningmacOS 12 Monterey or later, and has no Windows version.
- Phone-to-phone transfer. Dr.Fone, iCareFone and Backuptrans move WhatsApp to a new phone, across iPhone and Android. Chatcove does not write anything back to a phone.
- WhatsApp Business and other apps. Several competitors cover WhatsApp Business, and iMazing and Dr.Fone handle other messaging apps too. Chatcove does regular WhatsApp only.
- Track record. These companies have years of releases behind them. Chatcove's first public build shipped in September 2026.
Why Chatcove
- $9, once. Less than a single month of some of the subscriptions above, for 2 Macs, with no renewal to remember.
- See it before you pay. Back up, open and read your entire history with the photos and voice notes in place, free. The trial includes 3 exports of one chat each, so you can check the files too.
- Private and local. No account and no server for your chats. The backup, reading and exporting all work with the network disconnected. The only automatic network calls are an update check and a licence check, and neither carries chat content.
- Focused. One app, one job: your WhatsApp history, readable on your Mac, in HTML, PDF, TXT or CSV. Right-to-left languages render correctly in the app and in the files.
- Made by a small studio. Chatcove is built by a real, named developer at Codama, and the mail you send to hello@chatcove.app is read by the people who wrote the app. Who we are.
Detailed comparisons
One tool at a time
- Chatcove vs iMazing, after iMazing went subscription-only, and every iMazing plan and price.
- Chatcove vs Dr.Fone WhatsApp Transfer
- Chatcove vs Tenorshare iCareFone
- Chatcove vs Backuptrans
- Twelve tools ranked by price, including MobileTrans, AnyTrans, iMyTrans and EaseUS ChatTrans.
Common questions
What is the best way to export WhatsApp from an iPhone to a Mac?
It depends on the job. For one conversation as a text file, WhatsApp's own Export Chat is free and enough. For your whole history in a readable format with the photos and voice notes in place, a desktop app that reads an encrypted iPhone backup is the reliable route. Chatcove does that for $9 once on Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 12 or later; the other tools on this page do it too, at higher prices or on subscriptions, and several also run on Windows and Intel Macs.
Which tools can export WhatsApp to PDF?
On their own pages, Chatcove, Backuptrans and iMazing list PDF export. Tenorshare lists HTML, which you can print to PDF from a browser. Dr.Fone's store page says you can export chat history to your Mac but does not name the file formats. This was checked on 8 October 2026.
Can these tools move WhatsApp from an iPhone to an Android phone?
Dr.Fone, iCareFone and Backuptrans all sell phone-to-phone WhatsApp transfer, which is their core feature. Chatcove does not transfer anything to a phone: it makes a readable copy of your history on your Mac. If you are switching to Android, use WhatsApp's own transfer or one of those tools to move the account, and an export to keep a copy you can read on a computer.
Does Chatcove support WhatsApp Business?
Not today. Chatcove reads the regular WhatsApp app. Dr.Fone and iCareFone list WhatsApp Business support, and Backuptrans sells a separate WhatsApp Business product.
Why is Chatcove so much cheaper?
It does one job, and we think saving your chat history is something most people do once, when they change phones, so it should be priced like that. It is $9 once for up to 2 Macs, with no subscription and no account. You can read your entire history free before deciding to pay.
Sources
- Backuptrans buy page: www.backuptrans.com/iphone-whatsapp-transfer-for-mac/buynow.html
- Backuptrans product page: www.backuptrans.com/iphone-whatsapp-transfer-for-mac.html
- Decipher Chat product page: deciphertools.com/decipher-chat.html
- Dr.Fone Mac WhatsApp Transfer pricing: drfone.wondershare.com/buy/drfone-mac-restore-social-app.html
- Tenorshare Mac store page: www.tenorshare.com/purchase/buy-icarefone-for-whatsapp-transfer-mac.html
- Tenorshare product page: www.tenorshare.com/products/icarefone-for-whatsapp-transfer.html
- MobileTrans Mac WhatsApp Transfer pricing: mobiletrans.wondershare.com/buy/pricing-for-individuals-mac-whatsapp-transfer.html
- iMazing store: imazing.com/store
- iMazing licensing policy: imazing.com/licensing-policy
- iMazing trial FAQ: imazing.com/faq/imazing-trial
- iMazing WhatsApp export guide: imazing.com/guides/how-to-export-whatsapp-chats-from-iphone-to-your-computer-as-pdf-excel-csv-or-rsmf