Meta's Whatsapp has become an important method of online communication.Its phone number-based contact system has been a good alternative to mobile operator text messages since it became mainstream.
But are you willing to Whatsapp How much space is sacrificed?Why does it take up so much space?Here's how to make WhatsApp take up less storage space on your smartphone.
1. Disable automatic downloads
When you first install WhatsApp, its default setting is to automatically download media when you connect to Wi-Fi.These media can really clog up your phone, especially if you're in a large group chat.
Therefore, the first preventive thing you should do is to turn off automatic downloads.Here's how to do it on iPhone:
1. Open WhatsApp and click "You" in the lower right corner of the menu.
2. Tap "Storage & Data" and scroll to the "Automatic Media Download" section.
3. Tap each row of media types and select "Never."
4. Optional: You can select Wi-Fi only for audio.
To do this on an Android phone, follow these steps:
1. Open WhatsApp and click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
2. Select Settings, select Storage & data, and scroll to the Automatic media download section.
3. Tap "While using mobile data" and switch to "Turn off all media types."
4. Tap When connected to Wi-Fi and toggle off the desired media type.
2. Delete WhatsApp media files
After disabling automatic downloads, the next thing you have to do is find your unwanted media files and delete them.If you save photos and videos to your phone's photo album, you can delete them directly from there.But it will be easier if you manage media for WhatsApp within the app.However, before doing this, you should back up your chat history to avoid deleting important content.
WhatsApp has a media manager that shows how much space WhatsApp takes up compared to other apps on your phone.It also arranges chats and media based on how much space they take up.Here's how to use it:
1. In WhatsApp settings, go to "Storage & Data" and select "Manage Storage".
2. Use the View and Remove Items section to view media files larger than 5 MB.Select and delete files you no longer need.
3. Return to "Manage Storage".
4. Scroll to the "Chat History and Channels" section and you will see all chat records arranged by the size of the space they occupy.
5. Tap any chat history and you can delete media files one by one according to the chat history.
The Manage Storage page is the same on iPhone and Android phones.
3. Turn on the message disappearing function
Meta introduced the disappearing message feature to WhatsApp in 2020 and expanded the feature to allow users to turn it on by default in all or certain chats.Not only does this feature protect privacy, it's also a great way to manage your space.
You can find the option to enable disappearing messages in the "Manage Storage" section of WhatsApp settings.You'll find this option by tapping "You" > "Storage & Data" on an iPhone, or "Settings" > "Storage & Data" on an Android phone.
Tap to turn on Disappear Messages, then select Default Message Timer to set a default countdown for when messages you send and receive disappear.If you want to be more selective, tap Apply timer to chats to choose which chats you want the message to disappear on.
Afterwards, all chat history from the time you enabled the feature will be automatically deleted after the specified time.
Control WhatsApp bloat
If you want to avoid scrambling every month to find what you should delete to make space, your best bet is to take preventive measures against WhatsApp bloat. Meta introduces high-definition videos and photos to WhatsApp, and allowing these videos and photos to automatically download to your storage may cause WhatsApp to take up storage space faster.
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