Data lock-in: Difference between revisions

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On iOS, exporting apps require payment, an external computer, and save as PDF, resulting in much larger files than plain text.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251111204709/https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255416051?sortBy=rank Export iMessage conversation - Apple Community]</ref><ref>[https://megalodon.jp/2026-0228-1623-45/https://discussions.apple.com:443/thread/255674743?sortBy=rank I want to download my messages to an external drive (flash drive) - Apple Community]</ref>

Chat messages can be archived manually with screenshots and screen recordings, but this takes lots of time and manual work~~, and~~ the resulting files can not be searched for text ~~and~~ will be much larger in size than a plain text-based export would be.

Chat messages can be archived manually with screenshots and screen recordings, but:

* this takes lots of time and manual work

* the resulting files can not be searched for text (unless [[wikipedia:Optical_character_recognition|OCR]] is applied)

* the resulting files will be much larger in size than a plain-text-based export would be

* [[Screenshot blocking|screen-capturing isn't always an option]]

[[WhatsApp]] lets the user export messages to a text file, but this has to be done for each conversation individually, and starting with an April 2025 update, exporting can be remotely disabled by the other participant.<ref>[https://archive.today/2025.08.28-001731/https://faq.whatsapp.com/715385484388016/?cms_platform=web About advanced chat privacy | WhatsApp Help Center]</ref>

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 On iOS, exporting apps require payment, an external computer, and save as PDF, resulting in much larger files than plain text.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251111204709/https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255416051?sortBy=rank Export iMessage conversation - Apple Community]</ref><ref>[https://megalodon.jp/2026-0228-1623-45/https://discussions.apple.com:443/thread/255674743?sortBy=rank I want to download my messages to an external drive (flash drive) - Apple Community]</ref>
-Chat messages can be archived manually with screenshots and screen recordings, but this takes lots of time and manual work, and the resulting files can not be searched for text and will be much larger in size than a plain text-based export would be.
+Chat messages can be archived manually with screenshots and screen recordings, but:
+* this takes lots of time and manual work
+* the resulting files can not be searched for text (unless [[wikipedia:Optical_character_recognition|OCR]] is applied)
+* the resulting files will be much larger in size than a plain-text-based export would be
+* [[Screenshot blocking|screen-capturing isn't always an option]]
 [[WhatsApp]] lets the user export messages to a text file, but this has to be done for each conversation individually, and starting with an April 2025 update, exporting can be remotely disabled by the other participant.<ref>[https://archive.today/2025.08.28-001731/https://faq.whatsapp.com/715385484388016/?cms_platform=web About advanced chat privacy &#x7C; WhatsApp Help Center]</ref>