In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to prevent WhatsApp from saving media to your iPhone if unnecessary images and videos sent from friends, family, and businesses are filling up the iOS Photos app.
You may want to stop WhatsApp from saving photos and videos to your iPhone for three main reasons:
1. Declutter the Photos app: WhatsApp automatically downloads media and saves them to your iPhone Photos app. These are kept in an album titled WhatsApp and also appear in the all photos section.
2. Two copies of images fill the local space: When you receive an image or video on WhatsApp, one copy is saved in your Photos app, and one is also kept inside WhatsApp. This means the same image occupies twice the storage.
3. For privacy reasons: Being an encrypted chat app, you might receive sensitive images and videos on WhatsApp. You may not want them in your Photos app.
Stop WhatsApp from saving all photos and videos to Camera Roll
You can block WhatsApp from saving images and videos from every person and group to your iPhone’s Photos app.
- Open WhatsApp and tap Settings.
- Tap Chats.
- Turn off Save to Photos.
Block photos and videos from a particular person or group to save in the iOS Photos app
Imagine you have a friend or family WhatsApp group or a business that sends tons of pictures and videos. You can prevent media they send from being saved in the iPhone Photos app.
- Open the person or group chat inside WhatsApp.
- Tap the person’s or group’s name at the top.
- Tap Save to Photos and choose Never.
How to save images manually
Imagine you blocked WhatsApp from automatically saving images to the Camera Roll. But then you receive a nice picture or video that you want to add to your iPhone’s Photos app. You can save it manually.
1) Open the chat inside WhatsApp.
2) To save a single image: Tap the image > share icon > Save.
3) To save multiple images: Tap the person’s name from the top > Media, Links, and Docs > Select > choose the photos > share icon > Save [number] Images.
Tip: If you just want to insert the image into a document, note, or elsewhere, touch and hold the image inside WhatsApp and tap Copy. Now, go to the destination app and paste it there.
Turn off automatic media downloads on WhatsApp
By default, WhatsApp preloads message attachments and media items so they’re ready when you open a message. But you can turn off these automatic downloads to reduce network and CPU activity and help save your iPhone’s battery and storage.
- Open WhatsApp and go to Settings > Storage and data.
- Under the Media Auto-Download heading, set Photos, Audio, Video, and Documents to Never, which will stop those items from being pre-fetched.
To quickly revert these media and attachment toggles to their defaults, hit Reset auto-download settings. Note that voice messages are always downloaded in advance, and there are no switches to change this behavior.
Now you know how to prevent the world’s most popular messaging app from saving media to your iOS photo gallery.
Another thing you can do to reduce the number of incoming images is to exit inactive groups. You can also politely ask people not to forward you daily unnecessary Good Morning or Good Night images of little relevance.
Fun fact: Most WhatsApp users are from India. The global internet slows down because Indians are sending Good Morning texts and images! Here’s a report by the WSJ about this.
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