Exporting from an iPhone (iTunes / Finder backup)

The desktop app reads WhatsApp's chats out of a local backup of your iPhone — the kind iTunes (Windows), the Apple Devices app (Windows) or Finder (macOS) makes on your computer. Nothing is installed on the phone and no cable to the app is needed once the backup exists.

This import was built and tested on synthetic backups; verification against real iPhones is still in progress. If something looks off, use the error details to tell support which step failed.

1. Make a local backup

1. Connect the iPhone with a cable and open iTunes / Apple Devices (Windows) or a Finder window (macOS). Tap Trust on the phone.
2. Select the device and choose Back up all of the data on your iPhone to this computer — not iCloud. iCloud backups never touch your computer and cannot be read.
3. Optional: Encrypt local backup. An encrypted backup works too — the app asks for its password and uses it only in memory on your computer.
4. Click Back Up Now and wait until it finishes.

Backups land in %APPDATA%\\Apple Computer\\MobileSync\\Backup or %USERPROFILE%\\Apple\\MobileSync\\Backup (Windows) and ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup (macOS). WhatsApp must be installed on the iPhone.

2. Open it in the desktop app

Sign in, choose iPhone backup (this computer) on the first screen, pick the backup from the list (or Choose folder… and select the folder named after a long hexadecimal id), enter the password if it is encrypted and click Open backup. Then select chats, preview, choose a format and export exactly as with an Android backup. Photos and other attachments are included when your plan allows media.

Common messages

• No iPhone backup was found in that folder — pick the folder inside MobileSync/Backup whose name is a long hexadecimal id, or the Backup folder itself.
• WhatsApp is not part of this backup — WhatsApp was not installed when the backup was made, or the backup is incomplete. Back up again.
• That backup password is not correct — it is the password you set in iTunes/Finder when turning on Encrypt local backup, not your Apple ID password.
• This backup layout is not supported — backups from iOS 9 or older are not readable.

Privacy

The backup folder is only read, never changed. Decrypted copies of WhatsApp's database and the media you export are cached under the app's data folder (Settings → Delete cached data removes them). The backup password is never stored or sent anywhere. The app registers your WhatsApp number — or, when it is not in the backup, the backup's device identifier — as a hashed source on your plan.