When I started using an iPhone around 2020, I migrated ten years of Android WhatsApp chats via a shady app from the internet™️ to the new iPhone. This was not an official way (since that did not exist back then). It involved iTunes backups that get manipulated and being put on the phone again. The world was good! But some time after, disaster struck! ⚡️
After some time, I noticed the old chats went missing. They seem to have noticed this migration path existed and did something to prevent it. I texted the WhatsApp support and got nothing but dumb robot replies. I can only speculate why they decided to not show migrated chats anymore. It may be because they could in theory be manipulated. If somebody knows the real reason, please tell.
So I thought my old chats were gone. But I had a local iPhone backup sitting on disk, but no official way to peek inside. Then I discovered that apps like iMazing can show WhatsApp chats from backups. And they also showed the missing chats, so they were part of the backup. WhatsApp was just not showing them.
So I did a little digging. Where do the chats sit. What I have to do to make them visible and: can I write a tool that makes it easy to find and search old chats? And that, kids, is how I ended up coding a WhatsApp backup viewer that runs entirely in the browser. 🥳
No ads, no tracking beyond a simple hit counter, and everything stays on your machine. Browse and search your WhatsApp history, with no file leaving your computer (I know, WhatsApp chats can have some spicy stuff, you better not upload anywhere 😏).
That all sounds cool, but I know my work may have flaws. Since this is sensitive data we are handling there, keep a copy elsewhere. I am not liable for data loss or other problems. This is a free hobby project and may contain errors.
It’s built with plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The database work uses sql.js (WASM) loaded locally. No CDNs, no servers. And seriously: sql.js is so cool! I could not have done it without it.
Give it a try, and if you have ideas—or find an edge-case backup—reach out on Mastodon.
…and I am an Specialist for Web Accessibility and UX-Engineer with over 20 years of experience, by day and a podcaster by night.
I help organizations build accessible websites by offering talks about accessibility, workshops & trainings, accessibility reviews and developing strategies for developers and management.
If that sounds like you could use my help, let’s talk! 💬