Every common question,
answered straight.

Is it one-time or subscription?

One-time. $99 buys a lifetime license that activates on up to 2 Macs at a time.

Can I activate it on more than 2 Macs?

2 active activations at a time. Revoke any Mac from /account → Activations and the freed seat is reusable for a new Mac, instantly.

What's the refund policy?

14 days, 95% back (the 5% covers the Stripe fee Stripe does not refund to us). The license is revoked the moment a refund is issued.

Will the price stay $99 forever?

We have no plans to raise it. We may add higher tiers (multi-seat, team) later, but the $99 single-user lifetime license is the floor we plan to keep.

Do I need an account on the website?

For the website yes: passwordless, magic-link email. It lets you see your license key, manage activated Macs, and request a refund. The Mac app itself only needs the license key, no web login required.

What kinds of WhatsApp messages does Chat Hoarding preserve?

All 16 kinds the WhatsApp database stores: text, image, video, GIF, audio, voice note, document, sticker, location, contact card, audio call, video call, missed audio call, missed video call, deleted (marker only — the body is gone from the DB itself), and system messages (group renamed, member added, etc.).

Does Chat Hoarding preserve reactions, replies, and mentions?

Yes. Reactions are stored as small chips under each bubble (one per reactor). Replies render the parent-message snippet above the reply bubble. @mentions are resolved to display names and styled inline.

Are voice notes saved with their waveform?

Yes. WhatsApp stores a 64-byte amplitude waveform alongside every voice note; Chat Hoarding writes it into the .tarc archive and renders it in the same UI, so playback is fast and the visual matches what you remember.

Are read receipts preserved?

All four states: sent, delivered, read, and (for voice notes) played. In group chats the per-recipient breakdown survives into the archive (receipt_user rows), so you can see exactly who read what and when.

Are deleted messages recoverable?

WhatsApp clears the message body when a sender deletes — the body is genuinely gone. What stays in the database is a deletion marker: the fact someone deleted a message at a specific time and who did it. Chat Hoarding renders the marker. The body text is not recoverable by anyone, including WhatsApp.

Does the app upload my chats anywhere?

No. Decryption runs entirely on your Mac. Chat Hoarding for Android has no INTERNET permission, verifiable in the AndroidManifest.xml in our public source. The Mac app's only outbound calls are license activation (email + device fingerprint) and the update check.

Where is the 64-digit key stored?

Only in memory, only during decryption. It is never persisted to disk, never sent to our server, never logged. Once the .tarc is written, the key is discarded from process memory.

Who are your sub-processors?

Stripe (billing), Supabase EU (account email + license + activations), Cloudflare (CDN), Microsoft Clarity (anonymous web-session replay on the marketing site only). That's the full list. Nothing touches your message content.

How can I prove the Android companion has no internet?

Inspect AndroidManifest.xml in the published APK (apktool, jadx) or read the source. The line is documented with a comment: '<!-- Deliberately no INTERNET permission. -->'. Android enforces this at the OS level; an app cannot open a socket if its manifest didn't ask for the permission.

Which WhatsApp backup formats are supported?

Crypt15 today. Crypt12 and Crypt14 are legacy formats from before E2E backups (pre-October 2021) and are not in scope. If you only have an older file, restore on the phone and let it produce a fresh Crypt15.

What encryption does Chat Hoarding use to decrypt?

AES-256-GCM, with a 32-byte root key derived from your 64-digit hex key via an HMAC-SHA256 loop (the `encryptionLoop` construction matching wa-crypt-tools, info string 'backup encryption'). Not standard HKDF; it matches WhatsApp's Android client byte-for-byte.

What happens with a wrong key?

AES-GCM's authentication tag fails immediately. Chat Hoarding shows a clear 'wrong key' error rather than garbled output. Wrong keys are caught in milliseconds.

Does it support WhatsApp Business?

Yes. WhatsApp Business writes Crypt15 to com.whatsapp.w4b instead of com.whatsapp. Chat Hoarding for Android scans both package paths and Chat Hoarding for Mac decrypts both with the same pipeline.

Do I need to root my phone?

No. None of the three transfer tiers require root. WhatsApp's backup folder is readable via standard storage permissions, and adb pull works on unrooted devices with USB debugging enabled.

What if I don't have a USB cable?

Use the Easy tier: install Chat Hoarding for Android, hit Locate, share the file to your Mac via Quick Share, Nearby Share, LocalSend, AirDrop-web, or Google Drive. No cable needed.

Why does the Mac app bundle adb?

Because installing adb yourself is a chore. The Advanced tier uses the bundled binary to pull the backup folder directly with no user-installed dependencies. The bundled adb is signed during release; no manual install or PATH setup required.

What's inside a .tarc file?

manifest.json (version, createdAt, exporterVersion), msgstore.db (decrypted main message database), an optional contacts.json (JSON the Mac app builds from any vCard or CSV address book you import — the Android companion's contacts.vcf, or one you imported manually), an optional manual_contacts.json (your in-app JID-to-name edits), and media/ (folder of attachments). It's a macOS package: Finder sees one icon; on disk it's a regular folder.

Can I open a .tarc on Windows or Linux?

Not in a Chat Hoarding viewer yet — the renderer is Mac-only today. The .tarc bundle itself is a regular folder; you can inspect msgstore.db with any SQLite browser on any platform.

How big is a typical .tarc?

Roughly the size of your original backup minus 10-20% (the msgstore.db plaintext compresses smaller than the encrypted Crypt15) plus the size of the media folder if you include it. A heavy WhatsApp user with five years of chats and a lot of voice notes might end up at 5-20 GB; a moderate user is often under 2 GB.

What if WhatsApp changes its database schema?

The .tarc captures a snapshot of msgstore.db with a manifest recording the exporter version. Future Chat Hoarding versions can read every prior .tarc cleanly even if WhatsApp's live schema has moved. That's the whole reason for a dedicated archive format.

Does Chat Hoarding work with iPhone WhatsApp?

Not yet. iPhone WhatsApp uses Apple's protected backup (different format from Crypt15). iPhone support via the iTunes/Finder backup path is on the roadmap. Current workaround: use WhatsApp's own Chat Transfer (or a tool like WazzapMigrator) to move the chat to an Android device first, then archive from there.

Will Chat Hoarding ever run on Windows or Linux?

The companion app already targets Android. A Windows / Linux viewer of .tarc files is not currently scheduled; the Mac is where Chat Hoarding's core experience lives.

What Mac do I need?

macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer. Apple Silicon or Intel; the app ships as a Universal binary. Apple Silicon is noticeably faster for large archives.

What Android do I need?

Android 8 (API 26) or newer. WhatsApp's own Android requirement is similar; in practice any phone that runs current WhatsApp runs Chat Hoarding for Android.

Does the Mac app need internet?

Only for: the update check on launch (you can disable it), license activation when binding a new Mac, periodic license re-check, and the DMG download when you opt to update. Never message content.