You have three ways to do it. A chat-book service takes your export and does the layout and printing for you. A print-on-demand printer will bind a PDF you’ve made yourself. A local print shop can do the same, and you can talk to someone about it. A service is the easiest, and your own PDF gives you the most control.
All three start with an export. Export the chat with media, because photos can only go in if they’re in the file. On Android, WhatsApp says only the most recent media is added, so check that your photos are there.
Option 1: A chat-book service
These services take your export and turn it into a designed book. These are the prices on their own sites when we wrote this, listed in no particular order. Shipping is usually extra.
| Service | Printed book from | Pages | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapptales, Germany | €34.90 softcover, €37.90 hardcover, for the first 100 pages, then €5 per 50 pages | At least 36, and long chats split into volumes | A5 size. PDF only from €16.90 |
| My Forever Books, US | $59 paperback for 400 pages, then $0.05 a page. $109 hardcover or linen | Up to 800 | Includes standard shipping. Check the price before you order |
| Mi Libro de Mensajes, Spain | €24.99 printed, plus €6 for hardcover | 32 to 800 | PDF only from €12.99 |
| MonLivreSMS, France | $59.99 with delivery | Up to 400 per volume | Ebook from $19.99 |
Before you upload, read what happens to your chat. Zapptales’ privacy policy, for example, says exported data is deleted automatically after four weeks, and after six months at most.
Option 2: Print your own PDF
This works if you want to choose the printer yourself, or if you want the chat laid out as a dated record.
Make the PDF. Our guide shows free ways to save a chat as a PDF, which suit a short, text-only chat. Or you can open your export on Chatonfile.com and order an A4 PDF. It has the chat in date order, with the photos in your export in place and its voice notes written out, and a summary with charts. We don’t print or ship anything, and it’s laid out as a clear document, so it won’t look like a designed photo book. You can see a full sample first.
Upload it to a printer. Lulu’s book guide is a good picture of what printers ask for:
- A4 is a listed size, with single pages and no password on the file.
- Fonts embedded, and images at 300 PPI or more.
- A safety margin of at least 12.7 mm.
- A larger inside margin as the book gets thicker, from 1 inch at 151 pages to 1.25 inches over 600. Coil and stapled books don’t need it.
- A cover as one PDF, with the back, spine and front on a single spread.
Our PDF has side margins of about 17 mm, which clears Lulu’s safety margin. Its running header and footer sit closer to the top and bottom edges than Lulu asks, so they could be trimmed. From 151 pages, Lulu recommends 25 mm or more at the spine, which is wider than our margin, so a glued book that long may lose text into the fold. Check the printer’s preview. Coil binding avoids the spine problem, up to Lulu’s 470 pages.
Not every printer lists A4. Blurb’s sizes don’t include it, and its PDF service wants an even number of pages, so you’d need to resize the file. Check the price with the printer’s own calculator.
Option 3: A local print shop
A print shop can take the same PDF. It’s a good choice for one or two copies, or if you’d like to see paper samples first. Ask for its PDF requirements and its limits on thickness.
Binding limits vary a lot, so check yours. Here are two examples:
| Binding | Lulu | University of Bristol Print Services |
|---|---|---|
| Staples | 4 to 48 pages | Up to 64 pages |
| Glued paperback | 32 to 800 pages | 30 to 300 sheets |
| Coil or wire | 2 to 470 pages | 10 to 250 sheets |
| Hardcover | 24 to 800 pages | 90 to 300 sheets |
A sheet printed on both sides is two pages. Lulu says coil binding lets a book lie flat when open, which helps with a long chat you plan to read.
How long will it come out
We found no neutral rule of thumb. MonLivreSMS says about 6,000 messages fit in its 400-page book, which works out at about 15 per page. Zapptales says it fits up to twice as many messages per page as a self-made photo book. Long messages, photos and page size all change this, so make the PDF before you pick a binding.
If the chat is too long for one book, you can split it into volumes by year. You can also use WhatsApp Web’s custom date range to export one period, though that’s text only.
Ask first: it’s their words too
A chat has at least two authors. In the UK, the author of a work is normally the first owner of its copyright, and the British Copyright Council says this applies to letters, so reproducing one needs permission, although showing someone the original doesn’t. It doesn’t mention messaging. Copyright covers original work, so a very short message may not qualify. In the US, the Copyright Office says short phrases aren’t protected, so a brief text may not qualify, while a longer one could.
We found no official source that applies this to WhatsApp, and none that covers printing one private copy as a gift. So we can’t tell you it’s fine or that it isn’t.
Printers do put the responsibility on you. Lulu’s terms say you must hold the rights to your content, and Blurb’s say it must not violate anyone’s privacy or copyright.
The simple answer is to ask the other person, which is easy if the book is for them. Posting pages online is a different matter from keeping a private copy. Our article on sharing WhatsApp messages explains why. If the chat is with someone who has died, our article on keeping their messages may help too.
A few things that make it better
- Order one copy first. You’ll spot problems with margins, photos or thickness before you pay for more.
- Read it before you print it. You can read and search your chat for free to find anything you’d rather leave out.
- Think about the paper. Blurb and Lulu both say they use acid-free paper, which is worth asking about if you want it to last.
- Keep the file. A PDF lets you print another copy later, whatever happens to your phone.
Common questions
How much does a WhatsApp chat book cost?
On the services we checked, printed books started at about 25 to 60 euros or dollars before any extras, and longer books cost more. Check the current price and shipping on the service's own site.
How many pages will my chat need?
It depends on the layout, the photos and how long the messages are. One chat-book service says about 6,000 messages fit in a 400-page book. The only way to know for your chat is to make the PDF.
Which binding should I choose?
A paperback with a glued spine suits most books. Lulu takes 32 to 800 pages this way. Staples only suit very thin books, and coil binding lies flat when open.
Can I print a book of a chat that includes someone else's messages?
Their words may be theirs under copyright, and printers usually ask you to confirm you have the rights you need. We found nothing that settles the point for a private gift, so the simple answer is to ask them.
