My WhatsApp Storage Is Full: How To Clear Space

Is your WhatsApp storage full? Do photos and videos you receive on WhatsApp automatically save to your camera roll? It might be time to take a look at how you can make the most of your WhatsApp storage.

One of the best things about the messaging app WhatsApp is its versatility. You can quickly and easily share messages, photos, videos, GIFs, voice notes and links with your friends and family using WhatsApp Messenger, or with clients and colleagues using WhatsApp Business.

The downside to all that media? It can quickly fill up your storage space on WhatsApp and on your device – but luckily, there are solutions at hand. Read on to find out the best ways to manage your WhatsApp storage, and how to make sure that your storage doesn’t fill up again in no time.

How to clear out your WhatsApp storage

It’s easy to clear space on your WhatsApp storage with just a few steps – and you don’t have to just choose to ‘delete all’ and run the risk of losing valuable data. Read on to find out how to free up space on different device types.

How to clear out the WhatsApp storage on an Android device

Firstly, it’s a good idea to view your storage to see how much space WhatsApp is currently taking up on your Android device. Follow these steps to view your storage:

1. Open the WhatsApp Messenger or Business App.
2. Go to the Chats tab, then tap More Options, followed by Settings.
3. Choose Storage and Data, then Manage Storage.
4. You’ll be able to see the amount of space that WhatsApp is currently taking up on your device at the top of the screen.

Once you’ve reviewed your storage, it’s time to free up some space on your Android device. It’s a good idea to start by finding large items. Follow these steps to clear out some of your data:

1. Open the WhatsApp Messenger or Business App.
2. Go to the Chats tab, then tap More Options, followed by Settings.
3. Choose Storage and Data, then Manage Storage.
4. Choose Larger than 5MB, or alternatively, choose a specific chat to review.
5. Tap the sort icon to sort the items by Newest, Oldest or Largest. You’ll be able to see the file size of each item in the top corner of the item.
6. Tap on each item to review it. If you’d like to, you can see which chat the item is from and when it was received by you. To do this, go to More Options, then Show in Chat.

Now it’s time to delete your chosen items from your Android device. It’s worth noting that when you delete an item, it will disappear from your WhatsApp media library, but it may still be saved on your device. If you have multiple copies of an item saved on your device or across several chats, you’ll need to delete all the copies in order to create storage space.

Follow these steps to delete items:

1. Open the WhatsApp Messenger or Business App.
2. Go to the Chats tab, then tap More Options, followed by Settings.
3. Choose Storage and Data, then Manage Storage.
4. Choose Larger than 5MB, or alternatively, choose a specific chat to review.
5. To delete individual items, tap and hold the item which you want to delete. You can choose additional items if you want to delete multiple items at once.
6. To delete all items, choose Select All.
7. Choose Delete Starred Items if you want to delete all starred items.
8. Choose Delete Any Copies if you want to delete all duplicates of an item.
9. Once you’ve chosen your items, tap Delete.

How to clear out the WhatsApp storage on an iPhone

Firstly, it’s a good idea to view your storage to see how much space WhatsApp is currently taking up on your iPhone. Follow these steps to view your storage:

1. Open the WhatsApp Messenger or Business App.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Choose Storage and Data, then Manage Storage.
4. You’ll be able to see the amount of space that WhatsApp is currently taking up on your device at the top of the screen.

Once you’ve reviewed your storage, it’s time to free up some space on your iPhone. It’s a good idea to start by finding large items. Follow these steps to clear out some of your data:

1. Open the WhatsApp Messenger or Business App.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Choose Storage and Data, then Manage Storage.
4. Choose Larger than 5MB, or alternatively, choose a specific chat to review.
5. Tap the sort icon to sort the items by Newest, Oldest or Largest. You’ll be able to see the file size of each item in the top corner of the item.
6. Tap on each item to review it. If you’d like to, you can see which chat the item is from and when it was received by you. To do this, go to More Options, then Show in Chat.

Now it’s time to delete your chosen items from your iPhone. It’s worth noting that when you delete an item, it will disappear from your WhatsApp media library, but it may still be saved on your device. If you have multiple copies of an item saved on your device or across several chats, you’ll need to delete all the copies in order to create storage space.

Follow these steps to delete items:

1. Open the WhatsApp Messenger or Business App.
2. Go to the Chats tab, then tap More Options, followed by Settings.
3. Choose Storage and Data, then Manage Storage.
4. Choose Larger than 5MB, or alternatively, choose a specific chat to review.
5. To delete individual items, tap and hold the item which you want to delete. You can choose additional items if you want to delete multiple items at once.
6. To delete all items, choose Select All.
7. Choose Delete Starred Items if you want to delete all starred items. You can also choose the option to Delete All Except Starred if you prefer.
8. Choose Delete Items And Any Copies if you want to delete all duplicates of items.
9. Once you’ve chosen your items, tap Delete.

What fills up WhatsApp Business storage fast?

Photos, videos, GIFs and other multi-media fill up WhatsApp storage more quickly than just messages. While these types of media messages are a large part of what makes WhatsApp so popular, they can quickly clog up your device’s storage and cause issues when it comes to allowing WhatsApp Business to run smoothly.

How to make more of your WhatsApp Business storage?

As well as regularly reviewing your WhatsApp Business storage and clearing out large files, there are a few settings that you should consider changing in order to make the most of your WhatsApp Business storage.

Stop automatically saving photos to your device to save storage space

Both Android and iOS devices will automatically download and save images and videos that you receive via WhatsApp, if you don’t change the default settings that come installed on the app.

The chances are that you don’t need to access every GIF, image or video that you’ve been sent via WhatsApp outside of the app itself, and if you don’t change this setting, you can soon find that your camera roll is full of memes and other media that you don’t recognise at a glance.

Follow these steps to stop photos and videos from automatically saving to your phone’s camera roll:

1. Open the WhatsApp Messenger or Business app.
2. Go to Settings, then Chats.
3. On an Android device, turn off Media Visibility.
4. On an iPhone, choose the Save To Camera Roll option and turn it off.

Stop automatically downloading images and videos to your device

Another way to limit the storage space that WhatsApp uses is to stop your device from automatically downloading media messages. This means that you’ll be able to manually download files when you’re ready to view or open them.

The default settings on WhatsApp allow your device to download images over mobile data, and video if your device is connected to Wi-Fi.

To view your automatic download settings, go to the Data and Storage section of your WhatsApp Settings. You’ll be able to choose between different options to allow your device to download media if you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, over mobile data, or never. If you’re using an Android device, it can also limit automatic downloads during periods of roaming.

If you choose to limit how WhatsApp downloads media, you’ll need to tap on images and videos when you want to view or download them. However, this can help to save mobile data and stop these types of media from automatically taking up storage space on your device.

What happens if you don’t clear out your WhatsApp storage?

If you don’t clear out your WhatsApp storage and you continue to use the app, your storage might reach critically low levels on your device. If this happens, WhatsApp might not work as expected.

In this case, you’ll generally get a prompt on the WhatsApp app to ask you to free up space in order to continue using the app.

If you do receive a notification telling you that you’re running out of storage space on WhatsApp, it’s best to act quickly before you run out of space and start having issues.

How to sensibly use media in WhatsApp Business for business communications

When using data-rich media such as images or video, it’s worth considering what the payoff for your business communication might be. For example, statistics and data can be much more easily understood using an infographic or chart, compared to text messages.

Pictures can help to familiarise your audience with team members and brand spaces, or showcase services and products with an eye-catching aesthetic that translates across into bookings or sales.

You might choose to use GIFs as part of your brand’s tone of voice to add humour, entertainment and emotion to your conversations.

All of these types of media could be a great addition to your business communication strategy – but it’s worth remembering to regularly clear out your WhatsApp Business storage after large campaigns or at regularly scheduled intervals to make sure that the app works as expected.

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