WhatsApp harassment and stalking, preserved for police and court
Being harassed or stalked on WhatsApp? Preserve the threats before they are deleted.
Export the conversation, send it to us, and we deliver a certified package the police and courts trust: a readable, line-numbered transcript with an eIDAS qualified timestamp, chain of custody, and your raw export preserved. One conversation, certified in 24 hours.
Threats, repeated unwanted contact, blackmail, stalking? The sender can delete for everyone, turn on disappearing messages or delete their account, and WhatsApp does not keep delivered messages on its servers. Capture it now.
If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number now (for example 911 in the US, 999 in the UK, 112 in the EU). ProofSnap preserves evidence; it is not an emergency service and does not report to the police for you.
Delivered in 24 hours · eIDAS qualified timestamp · Verifiable by anyone
Unknown number
online
Today
Stop ignoring me. I know where you work.
9:41 PM
You'll regret it if you don't reply. I'm not going away.
9:43 PM
This message was deleted
9:44 PM
Illustrative example. Deleted messages are preserved as markers, and the pattern over time is exactly what a harassment or stalking case turns on.
Every package can be verified by anyone, for free, in the open Trust Verifier.
Quick answer
How do I use WhatsApp harassment messages as evidence for the police?
Preserve the whole conversation now, before it is deleted, and hand the police an authenticated copy, not loose screenshots. Export the chat from WhatsApp (open the chat, use Export chat, include media), then have it certified: a line-numbered transcript, SHA-256 hashes, chain of custody and an eIDAS qualified timestamp, so the threats, their order and their timing are hard to dispute. Report the harassment to WhatsApp and to your local police separately.
If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number first. ProofSnap preserves evidence; it is an evidence tool, not legal advice, and not an emergency or reporting service. One conversation is $59.99, in 24 hours.
Why you have to capture it now
Harassment evidence is perishable. A harasser who realises they have gone too far will try to erase the trail, and WhatsApp gives them the tools to do it.
Delete-for-everyone wipes it from both sides
WhatsApp lets the sender delete a message for everyone, so a threat can vanish from your chat too. Once exported and sealed, your copy survives even if they delete theirs.
Disappearing messages self-destruct
A harasser can turn on disappearing messages so everything auto-deletes after a set time. Capture the conversation before the timer runs out.
They can delete the whole account
If the sender deletes their WhatsApp account, the number and profile disappear. Your preserved export keeps the record of who wrote what and when.
WhatsApp will not have a copy later
WhatsApp does not keep your messages on its servers once they are delivered, so you cannot count on recovering deleted content afterwards. The copy on your device is the one that matters.
There can be a duty to preserve evidence relevant to a case, and deleting it yourself can count against you. Keep everything, do not edit it, and let a certified copy carry the integrity.
What WhatsApp harassment and stalking looks like
A single message rarely tells the story. What matters is the pattern over time, which a preserved full thread captures and a screenshot cannot.
Threats and intimidation
Explicit or veiled threats to your safety, your family or your job, and messages meant to frighten or control you.
Repeated unwanted contact
A flood of messages or calls after you asked them to stop, from one number or from new numbers each time.
Blackmail and sextortion
Threats to share private images or information unless you pay or comply. Preserve the demands, do not pay, and report it.
Stalking and monitoring
Messages showing they are tracking your movements, showing up where you are, or knowing things they should not.
Coercive and controlling behaviour
A pattern of pressure, isolation and control over time, often from an ex-partner, that only a full timeline reveals.
Harassment in a group
Abuse, defamation or coordinated pile-ons inside a WhatsApp group. Export the group chat to preserve who said what.
Documenting online abuse more broadly? Our guide on how to document cyberbullying evidence for police and court covers the wider picture, and this page handles the WhatsApp part end to end.
Reporting to the police: what to do and what to bring
Police and support services give consistent advice. Preserve, do not engage, and bring an organised, authenticated record.
Do
- Preserve the whole conversation now, before it is deleted.
- Keep a short timeline of incidents with dates and times.
- Block and report the sender inside WhatsApp.
- Report to your local police, and to a support service if you feel unsafe.
Avoid
- Replying to or confronting the harasser, which can escalate things.
- Deleting messages, even upsetting ones; the record matters.
- Paying a blackmailer; it rarely stops and complicates the case.
- Relying only on screenshots for a serious case.
Where to report
Immediate danger
Call your local emergency number: 911 in the US, 999 in the UK, 112 across the EU.
Ongoing harassment
Your local police, on their non-emergency line, online, or in person. Bring the certified export and your timeline.
Report to WhatsApp
Open the chat, then Block and Report. See WhatsApp's information for law enforcement.
Report routes and offences differ by country. In the US you can also report online crime to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). This is general information, not legal advice. For your case, contact the police and, if needed, a qualified lawyer.
Why a screenshot may not be enough
Screenshots are a good first step, and you should take them. For a serious harassment or stalking case, they are also the easiest evidence for the other side to attack.
Under FRE 901 in the US you must show the item is what you claim, and courts increasingly ask for the underlying data. A screenshot, stripped of metadata, hash and provenance, rarely clears that bar on its own.
"It could have been faked"
Fake-chat generators can produce a convincing fake conversation in seconds, so a bare screenshot invites the claim that you made it up. A SHA-256 hash and a signed manifest answer that.
No provable date
A screenshot has no independent timestamp. An eIDAS qualified timestamp and a Bitcoin anchor fix when the threats existed, which matters when a pattern over time is the case.
It shows only fragments
Screenshots capture single moments. A preserved full export shows the whole course of conduct, including deleted-message markers, which is what a harassment or stalking charge relies on.
No chain of custody
There is no record of how the image was captured and handled. Certification preserves the raw export and adds the chain of custody an authentication needs.
From "I have the messages" to court-ready, in four steps
A done-for-you service. Export and send, we do the rest, you receive the sealed package within 24 hours to give the police or your lawyer.
Export the WhatsApp chat
On a computer, right-click the conversation and choose Export chat. On a phone, open the chat and use Export chat, with media.
See exact steps ↓Upload on the secure page
A secure upload page opens right after payment. Upload your files and tell us which chat to certify plus any case reference.
We certify and deliver
A signed ZIP with your line-numbered transcript, preserved raw export, Bitcoin anchor and eIDAS timestamp, within 24 hours.
Step 1 in detail
How to export the WhatsApp chat
WhatsApp has a built-in per-chat export on your phone (iPhone and Android) and in the WhatsApp Desktop app (Mac and Windows). Choose to include media, and send us that export.
On a computer, in WhatsApp Desktop (Mac and Windows)
Export from WhatsApp Desktop
In the WhatsApp Desktop app on Mac or Windows, this is the quickest route:
- 1Right-click the conversation in your chat list (or click the chevron that appears on hover), then click Export chat.
- 2Choose Attach media (recommended) or Without media.
- 3The file is saved straight to your Downloads folder (a message confirms "Exported chat was saved to Downloads folder"). Send us that .zip.
You get the same _chat.txt plus media as the phone export. Desktop is easiest when the chat is already on your computer, or is too large to email from a phone.
On your phone (iPhone and Android)
Export from your phone
On iPhone: open the chat, then:
- 1Tap the contact or number at the top to open contact info.
- 2Scroll down and tap Export chat.
- 3Choose Attach media, then Save to Files.
On Android: open the chat, then:
- 1Tap More options (the three-dot menu at the top right).
- 2Tap More, then Export chat.
- 3Choose Include media, then pick how to save it.
Export chat greyed out or missing?
Two things can hide the in-app Export chat. It is unavailable in Germany (and may be limited in a few other regions). It is also disabled when Advanced Chat Privacy is turned on for that chat, and in a group only an admin can switch it off. Turn Advanced Chat Privacy off (or ask the admin) and export again, use a device backup, or email us and we will guide you.
For the exact click-by-click with screenshots, see our guide to exporting and printing a WhatsApp chat for court, or WhatsApp's guide to exporting your chat history.
Send us everything (recommended)
The primary artifact is the _chat.txt export plus its media folder. For the strongest exhibit, if available also send the WhatsApp message database, which can sometimes still hold recently deleted messages. We seal whatever you send, hashed and timestamped, never opened. If authenticity is ever disputed, a court-appointed technician can verify the transcript against the source. Decrypting the database needs its key, which the custodian provides separately.
Optional: the message database
Find your device below, then send us the folder it points to. When in doubt, send more rather than less.
Connect by USB and copy the whole WhatsApp folder:
Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/
- •
Databases/:msgstore.db.crypt15and every dated backup - •
Media/: the attachments
Your 64-digit key: WhatsApp › Settings › Chats › Chat backup › End-to-end encrypted backup.
The store lives inside a device backup, so make a full local backup:
- 1.Plug into a Mac (Finder) or Windows PC (Apple Devices / iTunes)
- 2.Tick Encrypt local backup, set a password, back up
- 3.Send the whole backup folder:
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/(Mac)%APPDATA%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup\(Windows)
Encrypting the backup is what keeps the WhatsApp data complete.
Zip this whole folder as-is (needs Full Disk Access):
~/Library/Group Containers/group.net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.shared/
- •Messages:
ChatStorage.sqlitewith its-waland-shmsidecars (recently deleted messages can live only in-wal) - •Attachments: the
Media/andMessage/folders
Too large to zip whole? Send the .sqlite with its -wal and -shm plus the Media folder.
Zip the whole folder for whichever build you have:
- •Store / older app:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\5319275A.WhatsAppDesktop_cv1g1gvanyjgm\LocalState\ - •Newer WebView2 build (default since late 2025):
%APPDATA%\WhatsApp\
Not sure which you have? Zip both paths if present, or just tell us.
Your files stay encrypted. Keep your key or backup password yourself. We seal everything exactly as sent, hashed and timestamped, and never open it. You only hand the key to a court-appointed technician if authenticity is ever disputed. After we deliver your finished package, we delete all your data from our servers.
What you get back
A readable transcript that shows the whole pattern
We render your conversation into a clean, line-numbered Chat Conversation Transcript PDF: every message in original order, deleted messages shown as markers, photos inline where they were sent, and every other attachment referenced by file name and linked to the preserved file inside the package.
Every message in original send order, numbered so you or an officer can cite "Line 82"
Deleted messages shown as markers, and photos rendered inline in place
A SHA-256 hash on every file, a signed manifest and a chain of custody
Cover sheet: parties, case reference, date range, message count and source SHA-256
Bitcoin anchor plus an eIDAS qualified timestamp, verifiable by anyone for free
Two layers of proof, and what each one means
Both layers are included in every certification. The qualified timestamp is what carries legal weight in the EU.
Bitcoin OpenTimestamps
The SHA-256 hash of your sealed manifest is anchored in the Bitcoin blockchain: a decentralised, independent, tamper-resistant proof that the export existed at a point in time. Subject to the court's free evaluation of evidence.
eIDAS qualified timestamp
Court-grade in the EU
Issued by Disig a.s., a Qualified Trust Service Provider on the EU Trusted List. Under eIDAS Article 41(2) it carries a presumption of accuracy of the date and integrity of the data: the other side has to rebut it.
What certification proves, and what it does not
What certification proves
- The export existed in that exact state no later than the timestamp.
- It has not been altered since it was sealed.
- The raw export is preserved for later expert examination.
- If you also send the sealed message database, an expert can examine the sender identifiers (the phone number and WhatsApp account each message is bound to), which materially strengthens attribution.
What it does not do
- On its own the transcript ties messages to an account, not conclusively to a person; an account is not proof that a specific hand typed the message.
- It is verifiable preservation, not a full forensic acquisition of the device, and not a police report.
- Admissibility and final authorship are decided by the court.
We make the content, order and timing impossible to dispute, and preserve the untouched original, so the fight is about what the messages mean, not whether you faked them. The court still assigns final authorship, as it always does.
Built to support authentication under FRE 901 and self-authentication under FRE 902(14) in the US, and the eIDAS Article 41(2) presumption in the EU. In the UK, the Civil Evidence Act 1995 admits authenticated documents and the court weighs their reliability. ProofSnap is an evidence tool, not legal advice, and not an emergency or reporting service. For your safety and your case, contact the police and, if needed, a qualified lawyer.
Pricing
Already have the WhatsApp conversation exported? We certify it as-is.
One certification covers one conversation, including its attachments and any supporting file.
WhatsApp Chat Certification
1 conversation · certified in 24 hours
- Your WhatsApp export, certified as-is
- Line-numbered transcript, deleted messages marked
- eIDAS qualified timestamp + Bitcoin anchor
- Signed ZIP + certificate PDF + chain of custody
- Raw export preserved, verifiable by anyone for free
Right after payment, a secure upload page appears where you send us your files, so nothing sensitive has to go by email. If we cannot process your files, we will help you produce a usable export or issue a full credit. Not sure what you have? Ask us before you order.
Harassment at work, or a landlord?
If this is workplace harassment, see workplace harassment evidence. The full service is on the WhatsApp chat evidence page.
Are screenshots enough?
Read whether WhatsApp screenshots are admissible in court, and how to make yours hold up.
Frequently asked questions
For a website, not a chat
Being harassed on a website or social media, not WhatsApp?
If the abuse is a social post, a profile, a comment or a website, ProofSnap is a Chrome extension that captures it as court-ready evidence yourself, in seconds, before it is deleted. Same integrity you read about here: a SHA-256 hash, an RSA-4096 signature, a Bitcoin blockchain timestamp and a Provenance Certificate, packaged into an 11 to 15 file evidence ZIP you can verify for free.
Standard SnapPack
10 captures · no expiration · one-time purchase
Pay-as-you-go, no subscription. All features: export, metadata, a short video proof, Provenance Certificate and blockchain timestamp.
eIDAS SnapPack
EU qualified timestamps (Disig a.s.)
$5.00 / stamp · also 1× $6.99 or 10× $49.99
Adds a qualified eIDAS timestamp per capture (Article 41), with a legal presumption of accuracy across the EU. Whitelabel branding on the evidence PDF.
Subscription
Essential · Professional · Enterprise
Annual plans save 20%
For regular use: monthly capture allowances, File Certification and eIDAS stamps on higher tiers. Includes a 7-day free trial (a credit card is required to start).
Prefer no subscription and no auto-renewal? The Standard SnapPack at $4.99 is a one-time purchase. SnapPacks are bought inside the extension after you install it. See the full ProofSnap pricing and features on getproofsnap.com.
Free to install · capture your first web evidence in under a minute.