A WhatsApp chat analyzer that reads between the lines
Chat stats count messages, not what they mean
Search for a WhatsApp chat analyzer and most of what comes up is stats. Who sent more messages. The busiest hour of the day. Top emoji, longest streak, a word cloud with "lol" in the middle. It's fun to look at, and now and then it confirms a hunch, like the feeling that you send three texts for every one that comes back.
But a count can't read a message. "ok" and "ok!! 😊" are both one message. A reply that took six hours because they were on a night shift looks the same on a chart as a reply that took six hours because they didn't feel like answering. Numbers tell you how much got said. They don't tell you how it landed or where things are heading.
So here's the honest version: Calypso isn't a stats tool. There are no message counts, no word clouds and no top emoji charts. The Decode report does show a few numbers, but only the ones that back up the verdict: who's leaning in, your share of the effort as a percentage, and how long each of you typically takes to reply. If a full page of chat stats is what you're after, a stats tool will do it fine. Calypso is for the other question, the one you were probably asking when you hit export: what is actually going on here?
What Calypso reads in a WhatsApp export
Decode is the part of Calypso that reads whole conversations. Think of a sharp friend who actually has the time to read the recent stretch of a chat properly instead of skimming the last ten messages. It pays attention to a few things at once.
Tone. Not only whether a message sounds nice, but how the warmth moves over time. Were the replies long and playful in March and short and polite by May? Does one of you soften every line while the other stays flat?
Reply timing. A WhatsApp export stamps each message with a date and a time, so the rhythm of the chat is right there in the file. Decode looks at how quickly things get answered, when the gaps start to open, and whether a slow reply is a habit or a one off.
Effort and attachment patterns. Who asks questions back, who makes plans, who apologizes, who goes quiet after a hard conversation and who keeps reaching. A push and pull like that shows up across weeks of messages far more clearly than in any single screenshot.
Then you get a plain verdict in a sentence or two, the red flags and green flags it found, what to do next, and a suggested reply when one makes sense. The reply is only a draft: you choose whether to send it, rewrite it, or leave it. It works on any kind of chat, whether that's someone you're dating, a partner, a friend who's gone distant, a sibling or a coworker. Stuck on one confusing message rather than a whole thread? Try what does this text mean.
How to export a WhatsApp chat on iPhone or Android
WhatsApp has a built in export that saves one chat's text as a file you can share. The menu names below match WhatsApp's own help article on exporting chat history, checked on October 6, 2026. Menus move around between app versions, so if yours looks different, that page is the one to trust.
On iPhone: open the chat, tap the contact's name or the group name at the top, then scroll down and tap Export Chat. When it asks about media, choose Without Media. Then pick where the file goes, for example Mail to send it to yourself, or Save to Files so it's ready to upload.
On Android: open the chat, tap More options (the three dots in the top corner), then More, then Export chat. Choose Without media, then pick how to send it, for example by email to yourself or into a folder on your phone.
Why without media? Calypso only reads the words. Photos, videos and voice notes inside an export get skipped, so including them just makes the file bigger. Depending on your phone, you'll end up with a .txt file or a .zip with the text inside, and either one is fine.
The limits, so nothing bounces: each file can be up to 4 MB. A .zip can hold up to 50 files, each text file inside it up to 2 MB, with 10 MB of text in total, and only the .txt and .csv files in it are read. One decode takes up to 5 text files or up to 20 screenshots, and you can also paste up to 50,000 characters straight into the box. Accepted uploads are images, .txt, .csv and .zip.
A very long chat, say years of daily messages, can pass 4 MB even without media. If that happens, copy the recent stretch you're actually worried about and paste that in instead. And even when a long file fits, Decode reads the most recent part of it, about the last 100,000 characters, dropping the oldest messages first. The last few weeks usually hold the answer anyway.
What happens to the file you upload
A WhatsApp export is personal. It holds your words and someone else's, often far more history than Decode will actually read, so it's fair to ask where it ends up.
Screenshots are deleted from our servers about a day after the decode finishes. The text read from your upload and the decode report stay on your account until you delete the decode, and deleting it removes them. Everything is encrypted in transit and stored in an encrypted database. The full details are in the privacy policy and the consumer health data privacy notice.
One more thing worth a thought: an export includes the other person's messages too. Wanting to understand a chat better is completely normal. Just upload the conversation you need read, and keep the verdict to yourself rather than passing it around.
An example verdict, from an invented chat
To show what a verdict reads like, here's one for a chat we made up. Picture about six weeks of WhatsApp messages between you and someone you've been seeing; call them Sam. Early on, Sam answered within minutes, sent voice notes and asked about your day. Lately the replies arrive hours later and run shorter: "haha yeah", "sorry, crazy week". But Sam still suggests plans, and the last one actually happened.
A verdict on a chat like that might read: "Sam's interest looks real but stretched thin. The replies got shorter around the same time the late messages about work deadlines started, and Sam keeps suggesting plans and showing up for them. This reads like a busy patch, not someone pulling away."
Green flags: Sam follows through on plans and still answers the questions you ask. Red flag, a mild one: you've started matching the short replies, so the chat has gone flat on both sides. What to do next: stop testing with one word answers and say something direct. Suggested reply: "you've seemed slammed lately, want to do something low key this weekend?"
Again, Sam and this chat are invented, not a real person or a real report. A real verdict is about your conversation, and it can just as easily say the thing you were hoping it wouldn't. That's sort of the point. If you have the verdict and still can't settle on what to send, what to reply walks through the usual situations.
Questions
Does it work with group chats?
Does it work with Android and iPhone exports?
Is my chat stored?
Will it show me message counts or who texts more?
Is it free?
Calypso provides emotional support and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental-health care. If you are in crisis, see our Safety page →
Got the export? Let's read what it says.
Upload the chat and get a plain verdict on what's going on, plus a next step. Your first decode comes with a free account.