Receive WhatsApp chat

A Flutter plugin that lets your app receive chats exported from WhatsApp ("Export chat" → your app), already parsed into members, messages and stats.

• Installation
• Android setup
• iOS setup
• Usage
• What you receive
• Example

Installation

dependencies:
  receive_whatsapp_chat: ^0.1.9

Android setup

The plugin already registers the share intent filter. You only need to make your MainActivity extend FlutterShareReceiverActivity instead of FlutterActivity.

Kotlin — android/app/src/main/kotlin/.../MainActivity.kt

package <your.package.name> // from AndroidManifest.xml / build.gradle

import com.whatsapp.receive_whatsapp_chat.FlutterShareReceiverActivity

class MainActivity : FlutterShareReceiverActivity()

Java — android/app/src/main/java/.../MainActivity.java

package <your.package.name>;

import com.whatsapp.receive_whatsapp_chat.FlutterShareReceiverActivity;

public class MainActivity extends FlutterShareReceiverActivity {
}

iOS setup

On iOS, WhatsApp shares the chat through a Share Extension, handled by receive_sharing_intent. The example app is a complete, working reference for every step below.

In the steps below, replace group.com.example.myapp with your own App Group id (usually group.<your bundle identifier>).

1. Create the Share Extension

1. Open ios/Runner.xcworkspace in Xcode.
2. File → New → Target… → Share Extension, name it Share Extension.
3. Set the extension's Minimum Deployments to the same iOS version as Runner.

2. Add an App Group to both targets

1. For both Runner and Share Extension: **Signing & Capabilities →
   • Capability → App Groups**, and add the same group, e.g. group.com.example.myapp.
2. For both targets: Build Settings → + → Add User-Defined Setting named CUSTOM_GROUP_ID with that same group id.

3. Runner Info.plist

ios/Runner/Info.plist

<key>AppGroupId</key>
<string>$(CUSTOM_GROUP_ID)</string>
<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
        <string>Editor</string>
        <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
        <array>
            <string>ShareMedia-$(PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER)</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
</array>

4. Share Extension Info.plist

ios/Share Extension/Info.plist — WhatsApp shares the chat as a zip file, so the extension must accept files:

<key>AppGroupId</key>
<string>$(CUSTOM_GROUP_ID)</string>
<key>NSExtension</key>
<dict>
    <key>NSExtensionAttributes</key>
    <dict>
        <key>NSExtensionActivationRule</key>
        <dict>
            <key>NSExtensionActivationSupportsFileWithMaxCount</key>
            <integer>1</integer>
        </dict>
    </dict>
    <key>NSExtensionMainStoryboard</key>
    <string>MainInterface</string>
    <key>NSExtensionPointIdentifier</key>
    <string>com.apple.share-services</string>
</dict>

5. ShareViewController.swift

Replace the generated ios/Share Extension/ShareViewController.swift with:

import receive_sharing_intent

class ShareViewController: RSIShareViewController {
}

6. Podfile

Let the extension see the receive_sharing_intent pod:

target 'Runner' do
  use_frameworks!

  flutter_install_all_ios_pods File.dirname(File.realpath(__FILE__))

  target 'Share Extension' do
    inherit! :search_paths
  end
end

Then run cd ios && pod install.

7. Build phase order

In the Runner target → Build Phases, drag Embed Foundation Extensions (or Embed App Extensions) above Thin Binary. Otherwise Xcode fails with a "Cycle inside Runner" build error.

Usage

Make the State of your widget extend ReceiveWhatsappChat and implement receiveChatContent. It is called with a parsed ChatContent each time a chat is shared to your app:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:receive_whatsapp_chat/receive_whatsapp_chat.dart';

class HomePage extends StatefulWidget {
  const HomePage({super.key});

  @override
  State<HomePage> createState() => _HomePageState();
}

class _HomePageState extends ReceiveWhatsappChat<HomePage> {
  final List<ChatContent> chats = [];

  @override
  void receiveChatContent(ChatContent chatContent) {
    setState(() => chats.add(chatContent));
  }

  @override
  void dispose() {
    disableShareReceiving();
    super.dispose();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      body: ListView(
        children: [
          for (final chat in chats)
            ListTile(
              title: Text(chat.chatName),
              subtitle: Text('${chat.sizeOfChat} messages'),
            ),
        ],
      ),
    );
  }
}

Receiving starts automatically when the state is initialized. Call disableShareReceiving() to stop and enableShareReceiving() to start again.

To try it, open a chat in WhatsApp → More → Export chat → Without media, and pick your app.

The parser supports several languages, but chats exported with WhatsApp set to English work best.

What you receive

ChatContent

Field	Type	Description
chatName	String	Name of the chat
members	List<String>	Chat members
messages	List<MessageContent>	All messages, in order
sizeOfChat	int	Number of messages
msgsPerMember	Map<String, int>	Message count per member
indexesPerMember	Map<String, List<int>>	Indexes in messages for each member

MessageContent

Field	Type	Description
senderId	String?	Sender name / phone number
msg	String?	Message text
dateTime	DateTime?	When the message was sent

In debug builds the plugin logs failures to the console, prefixed with [receive_whatsapp_chat]. Chat content is masked in these logs.

Example

The example app receives chats on Android and iOS and shows chat stats and messages. It also includes a sample chat, so you can try it without WhatsApp.