Import WhatsApp

What you need

A WhatsApp chat export (.txt file).

How to export from WhatsApp

1. Open the chat you want to export in WhatsApp
2. Tap the contact or group name at the top
3. Scroll down and tap Export Chat
4. Choose Without Media (text-only is sufficient)
5. Save or share the .txt file to your Mac

How to import into Retrace

1. Open Retrace and go to Settings
2. Click the Data Sources tab
3. Click the WhatsApp card
4. Drop your .txt file or click to select it
5. Review the preview showing conversations found
6. Link participants to people in your address book (or create new ones)
7. Click Import

What gets imported

• All messages with timestamps and sender names
• Group chat participants
• Message metadata (type, replies, forwarded status)

Common issues

• Date format varies by locale: WhatsApp uses your phone's date format (US: M/D/YY, EU: DD/MM/YYYY). The parser handles all formats automatically.
• Media messages: These appear as <Media omitted> in text exports. The message is still imported with this placeholder.
• Re-importing: You can safely re-import the same file. Retrace deduplicates messages automatically.
• Multiple chats: Export and import each chat separately. The parser handles them independently.