Individuals preserving messages for a pending matter, and the professionals they hand the archive to
Preserve WhatsApp messages for a pending dispute
A custody matter, a workplace situation, a contract that fell apart over text. Native screenshots strip the metadata that makes the message useful, and a chat in a live WhatsApp app can change. The encrypted backup, decrypted on a Mac you control, preserves the source data as it was. (Whether any of it satisfies the evidentiary rules of a specific process is a question for the lawyer or auditor handling the matter — this page is about preservation, not admissibility.)
Pain points
- Screenshots lose the receipts, timestamps, and sender IDs WhatsApp's database actually stored
- WhatsApp's native export drops read receipts, delivered timestamps, and per-recipient detail
- Uploading sensitive chats to a third-party 'WhatsApp to PDF' service creates new disclosure risk
- A flat text export is missing data that may be relevant later
- The other side may delete their account before any formal preservation request lands
How Chat Hoarding answers
- Source-level preservation from the Crypt15 backup itself, not from a screenshotted view
- Per-recipient delivered / read / played timestamps survive into the archive (receipt_user rows)
- Sender JIDs (including the opaque @lid privacy identifiers), reply context, and group participant history captured at archive time
- Local-only workflow: nothing uploaded to a third party, nothing in someone else's cloud
- One .tarc file you can hand to your attorney, store offline, or copy to an encrypted disk
Capabilities that matter for this use case
Decrypts the Crypt15 backup locally
AES-256-GCM decryption with your 64-digit key. msgstore.db.crypt15, the only database WhatsApp writes to the user-accessible backup folder. Keys never leave the Mac.
Receipts on every message: sent, delivered, read, played
Three-state check indicator with timestamps. Per-recipient breakdown in group chats. Same icons WhatsApp uses.
.tarc, one file, lifetime archive
Bundles manifest, decrypted msgstore.db, an optional contacts.json (imported address book) and manual_contacts.json (your in-app renames), and the media folder, all inside a macOS package. Double-click to open. Survives the phone.
Names instead of phone numbers
Auto-fills from your device address book (vCard exported by Chat Hoarding for Android, or pulled via adb), or manually per JID. Handles @lid privacy IDs.
Two network calls. That's it.
Decryption, browsing, archive creation: fully on-device. Companion has no INTERNET permission. Chat Hoarding for Mac's only outbound calls are license activation and the update check.
Ready to archive yours?
$99 lifetime · 2 Macs · revocable from the account page · 14-day refund