Privacy Policy
ChatViewer is built on a single promise: your chats never leave your device. This policy explains, in plain language, exactly what that means and what limited data is involved in running the site.
Your chat files are never uploaded
When you open a WhatsApp export (.txt or .zip) in ChatViewer, the file is read and processed entirely by JavaScript running in your own browser. It is never sent to us or to any server. We do not receive, see, store, or have any way to access the contents of your conversations, media, or contacts.
You can verify this yourself: once the page has loaded, disconnect from the internet. ChatViewer will still open and display your chat completely, because there is no server involved in reading it.
What stays on your device
- Your chat content — held only in your browser's memory while the tab is open, and discarded the moment you close or reload it.
- Your theme preference (light or dark) — stored in your browser's local storage so the site remembers it. This never leaves your device.
Analytics
This site uses Google Analytics 4 to count page visits and understand which guides are useful. It is loaded with IP anonymisation on, and it records only aggregate, non-identifying information such as page views, referrer and country. It never receives the contents of your chats, your export file or anything derived from it: your chat is parsed in your browser and never leaves it. We do not sell data and do not build advertising profiles from your use of the tool. Google’s own handling of this data is described in its privacy policy; you can opt out entirely with Google’s opt-out add-on or any tracker blocker.
Advertising
Some pages may display advertising to support the free tool. Where third-party ad networks are used, they may set their own cookies in accordance with their own privacy policies. These ads have no access to your chat files, which are never uploaded. If and when advertising is enabled, this section will name the specific provider and link to their policy.
Cookies
The core viewer sets no tracking cookies. The only local data the tool itself stores is your theme preference and any unlock key you buy, described above. Google Analytics, named above, sets its own measurement cookies; blocking them does not affect the viewer or the PDF export in any way.
Children
ChatViewer is a general-purpose utility and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, as the tool is designed not to collect chat data at all.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new date. Material changes — for example enabling a specific advertising provider — will be reflected in the relevant section above.
Contact
Questions about this policy can be sent to the contact address published on the site. Because we do not hold your chat data, we cannot retrieve, delete, or recover conversations on your behalf — those exist only on your own device.
Payments and unlock keys
The free viewer needs no account and sends nothing to us. If you buy an Unlimited or Court-ready unlock, the payment is processed by Razorpay (Razorpay privacy policy), which handles your card details and, where you enter it, your email address. Our server-side function receives the payment id, order id and payment status from Razorpay in order to issue a signed unlock key, and stores that key against the payment id so you can recover it later. We never receive your chat: unlock keys are verified inside your browser and the PDF is generated on your device. Payment records are retained as long as Indian tax law requires.