Chatfossil

Chatfossil is a browser extension that runs on WhatsApp Web. It keeps a copy of your messages in your browser's storage, on your own computer, and provides a search and reading interface over them.

• Search across message text, captions, sender and chat names, filenames, links, and the text of tweets that were shared. • Read whole conversations by scrolling. Only the rows on screen exist in the page, so a chat with 100,000 messages scrolls the same as one with 100. • A timeline histogram of message volume above each conversation; clicking a bar jumps to that period. • A side panel per conversation: its photos and video as a grid, its links, its files, and its participants ranked by message count. • Accent-insensitive search for Turkish: typing "gunaydin" matches "Günaydın". • Photos, voice notes, audio, documents and stickers are stored locally and open without a network request. Video is off by default and has a size limit. • For a shared tweet, the text is stored so it stays searchable, along with its pictures and clips. • Filters by type, date range, sender and chat. Messages can be starred, and the archive or the current results can be exported as JSON.

Everything is stored in the browser's own database on your device. There is no account, no server component, and no analytics or telemetry.

WhatsApp Web holds roughly 90 days of history in the browser, so history from before your first sync cannot be archived. After that, each sync adds what is new.

Chatfossil is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to WhatsApp or Meta Platforms, Inc. WhatsApp is a trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc.