Skip to main content

Track WhatsApp Web presence sessions, export history, and generate analytics dashboards.

Project description

🕵️‍♂️ WhatsApp Beacon (OSINT Tracker)

PyPI License Python Platform

WhatsApp Beacon tracks when specific WhatsApp contacts go online and stores every completed session in SQLite. It can export to Excel, generate a polished analytics dashboard, and run fully headless once the session is authenticated.

Disclaimer: This tool is for educational and research purposes only. Do not use it for stalking or any illegal activities.


✨ Features

  • PyPI install: pip install whatsapp-osint gets you the package fast.
  • One-command installer: clone, create a local .venv, install the package, and verify the browser setup.
  • Best-effort Linux bootstrap: if Git, Python, or Chrome/Chromium are missing, the installer will try to install them with sudo.
  • Automated browser driver resolution: Selenium Manager handles matching drivers, with manual override flags if you need them.
  • Headless tracking: authenticate once, then run quietly in the background.
  • SQLite session history: every finished online session is stored locally.
  • Excel export: turn the database into History_wp.xlsx.
  • Advanced analytics dashboard: generate a static HTML report with filters, heatmaps, leaderboards, and recent-session views.

🚀 Installation

Install from PyPI

python3 -m pip install whatsapp-osint

The package installs 2 equivalent entry points:

  • whatsapp-osint
  • whatsapp-beacon

One-click installer from GitHub

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jasperan/whatsapp-osint/master/install.sh | bash

What it does:

  • clones or updates the repo into ./whatsapp-osint
  • creates ./whatsapp-osint/.venv
  • installs the package and the whatsapp-beacon command
  • on Linux, uses sudo when needed to install missing system packages and Chrome/Chromium
  • verifies that a browser binary is available before it finishes

If you want a custom location:

PROJECT_DIR=/opt/whatsapp-osint curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jasperan/whatsapp-osint/master/install.sh | bash
Manual / development install

Use this only if you explicitly want to manage setup yourself.

git clone https://github.com/jasperan/whatsapp-osint.git
cd whatsapp-osint
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"

▶️ Run it

If you installed from PyPI:

whatsapp-osint -u "John Doe"

whatsapp-osint and whatsapp-beacon run the same CLI. The rest of the examples keep using whatsapp-beacon.

If you used the GitHub installer:

cd whatsapp-osint
source .venv/bin/activate
whatsapp-beacon -u "John Doe"

If you do not want to activate the venv first:

./whatsapp-osint/.venv/bin/whatsapp-beacon -u "John Doe"

First run

The first run must authenticate with WhatsApp Web.

  • Non-headless is the easiest path. Scan the QR code once, then the saved browser profile will be reused.
  • Headless also works. If the session is not authenticated yet, the tool will save a QR screenshot to qrcode.png.

Example:

whatsapp-beacon -u "Maria" --headless

📊 Advanced analytics

Generate a static HTML dashboard from the collected SQLite history:

whatsapp-beacon --analytics

By default, the report is written to:

analytics/index.html

Custom output path:

whatsapp-beacon --analytics --analytics-output reports/contact-dashboard.html

Once generated, open it in your browser:

xdg-open analytics/index.html
# or on macOS
open analytics/index.html

The dashboard includes:

  • top-level KPIs
  • per-contact leaderboard
  • daily online-time bars
  • weekday/hour heatmap
  • duration distribution
  • recent sessions and longest sessions tables
  • live filtering by contact inside the page

🖼️ Screenshots

First-run WhatsApp Web authentication flow

First-run WhatsApp Web authentication

Advanced analytics dashboard overview

Captured from a demo dataset generated through the built-in analytics exporter.

Analytics dashboard overview

Advanced analytics dashboard filtered to a single contact

Same dashboard, narrowed to one contact to show the live filter state.

Analytics dashboard filtered view


⚙️ Command line arguments

Argument Description Default
-u, --username Exact WhatsApp contact name to track. Required for tracking
-l, --language WhatsApp Web language code (en, es, fr, etc.). en
-e, --excel Export the database to Excel before doing anything else. False
--headless Run without a visible browser window. False
--chrome-driver-path Explicit path to chromedriver. Auto-detect
--chrome-binary-path Explicit path to Chrome or Chromium. Auto-detect
--analytics Generate the analytics dashboard and exit. False
--analytics-output Output path for the analytics HTML report. analytics/index.html
--config Path to a custom config file. config.yaml

⚙️ Configuration

You can keep defaults in config.yaml:

username: "Target Name"
language: "en"
headless: false
excel: false
browser: "chrome"
log_level: "INFO"
data_dir: "data"
chrome_binary_path: null

📦 Output

  • Logs: logs/whatsapp_beacon.log
  • Database: data/victims_logs.db
  • Excel export: History_wp.xlsx
  • Analytics report: analytics/index.html by default
  • Saved WhatsApp profile: data/chrome_profile

🔧 Troubleshooting

cannot find Chrome binary

The installer now tries to fix this automatically on Linux. If your distro keeps the browser in a weird place, launch with an explicit path:

whatsapp-beacon -u "John Doe" --chrome-binary-path /full/path/to/browser

Useful checks:

which google-chrome google-chrome-stable chromium chromium-browser
whatsapp-beacon --help

Username is required

Tracking mode needs a contact name:

whatsapp-beacon -u "John Doe"

Analytics mode does not:

whatsapp-beacon --analytics

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Fork it, build what you need, and send a PR.


📜 License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

🙌 Credits

Original concept developed in 2019. Revamped in 2025 for better performance and usability.


GitHub  LinkedIn

Project details


Download files

Download the file for your platform. If you're not sure which to choose, learn more about installing packages.

Source Distribution

whatsapp_osint-2.0.0.tar.gz (26.7 kB view details)

Uploaded Source

Built Distribution

If you're not sure about the file name format, learn more about wheel file names.

whatsapp_osint-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl (24.3 kB view details)

Uploaded Python 3

File details

Details for the file whatsapp_osint-2.0.0.tar.gz.

File metadata

  • Download URL: whatsapp_osint-2.0.0.tar.gz
  • Upload date:
  • Size: 26.7 kB
  • Tags: Source
  • Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? No
  • Uploaded via: twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.12.2

File hashes

Hashes for whatsapp_osint-2.0.0.tar.gz
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 b69bad5006a8c14c1e97513a4e8bb5d98784528f2e2fdddeadb5c295fb54d015
MD5 9b6ec082a38dadb43b2b89b7acb08743
BLAKE2b-256 125681e29924ee9780d00ba3b52e2d8988c59aca11868678fba63d93e3ff9d11

See more details on using hashes here.

File details

Details for the file whatsapp_osint-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl.

File metadata

  • Download URL: whatsapp_osint-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl
  • Upload date:
  • Size: 24.3 kB
  • Tags: Python 3
  • Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? No
  • Uploaded via: twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.12.2

File hashes

Hashes for whatsapp_osint-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 1495ffc5c50350e0d8ced0a38c00ba2fc7a1766ed93624cd8b17d6d18ea80b19
MD5 cabeae75b270a53698cbbe0e08e670a3
BLAKE2b-256 8b13864e19656fb7d027b8826d99b3c0553538b8f5e5f503b6753783d635f685

See more details on using hashes here.

Supported by

AWS Cloud computing and Security Sponsor Datadog Monitoring Depot Continuous Integration Fastly CDN Google Download Analytics Pingdom Monitoring Sentry Error logging StatusPage Status page