How to Reduce WhatsApp Storage on iPhone

If you regularly use WhatsApp to keep in touch with friends, family or customers, it can take up a lot of storage space on your phone. Shrinking WhatsApp storage helps you free up space on your iPhone and iCloud account. And who wouldn’t love extra space on iPhone for more photos and songs?

WhatsApp has a handy Storage menu to give you an overview of how much space the media takes up on your iPhone. That’s why you don’t need to go through individual chats to manually delete photos and videos. Also, you can change WhatsApp settings to disable automatic downloading of all incoming media files. So here is how you can reduce WhatsApp storage on your iPhone.

Check WhatsApp Storage on iPhone

Before exploring a step-by-step guide to freeing up WhatsApp storage space on iPhone, let’s first check the space occupied by the app.

Step 1: Open Settings on your iPhone.

2nd step: Scroll down to General.

Step 3: Select iPhone Storage.

Step 4: You can check the detailed storage breakdown in the following menu. WhatsApp can top the charts if you are a heavy app user.

The screenshot shows that WhatsApp is abnormally taking up 11GB of space on our iPhone. Let’s clear WhatsApp storage on iPhone.

Manage WhatsApp Storage on iPhone

WhatsApp lets you check a detailed storage breakdown from the Settings menu in the app itself. Here’s how you can use it.

Step 1: Launch WhatsApp on your iPhone.

2nd step: Head to Settings in the lower right corner.

Step 3: Open the “Storage & Data” menu.

Step 4: Select “Manage Storage”.

Step 5: You can check the full WhatsApp media breakdown. It’s time to review and remove unnecessary items.

Step 6: Open the “Over 5MB” menu and check all large WhatsApp files. Tap Select in the top right corner.

Step 7: You can manually review and select large files or tap Select All at the bottom.

Step 8: Tap the delete icon in the lower right corner. You have the choice between two options.

Delete article: The option deletes only selected items. If you forwarded the video or file to another chat, WhatsApp will not delete those copies.

Delete the item and all copies: It removes the original media and all transferred copies of WhatsApp. You will need to be careful when using this option as it will permanently delete the file from your WhatsApp account.

If you want to save specific photos or videos to your iPhone, open it and select the Share button at the bottom. Click “Save Video” and keep an offline file on the phone.

Transferred files deleted

It’s a good idea to delete files that you’ve transferred multiple times. The option is available in the same “Manage Storage” menu in WhatsApp settings.

Step 1: Head to Manage Storage in WhatsApp settings (check the steps above).

2nd step: Open the “Transferred multiple times” menu.

Step 3: Tap Select and select all files (most of them are irrelevant files filling WhatsApp storage on your iPhone).

Step 4: Tap Delete and confirm your decision.

If you want to remove media files from a specific chat or group, you can do so from the same menu. This is a handy option if you belong to dozens of WhatsApp groups and receive multiple photos and videos per day.

Step 1: Take a look at your WhatsApp chats from the Manage Storage menu (check the steps above).

2nd step: Select your contact or group using GB storage.

Step 3: You can tap the filter button in the lower left corner and sort the media files by size or date.

Step 4: Select irrelevant photos, videos and files and delete them from your phone.

You will have to repeat the same for all WhatsApp contacts and groups.

Delete downloaded photos and videos

The above steps only delete media files from WhatsApp. If you have downloaded photos and videos from WhatsApp on your iPhone, you should delete them by following the steps below.

Step 1: Open the Photos app on your iPhone. Go to the Albums menu.

2nd step: Open the WhatsApp folder.

Step 3: Select photos and videos and delete them from your phone.

Disable Auto Download in WhatsApp

When you enable automatic media downloading over cellular and Wi-Fi, WhatsApp downloads all incoming media files and fills your device’s memory in no time. You will need to disable it by following the steps below.

Step 1: Go to WhatsApp settings and open the Storage & Data menu (check the steps above).

2nd step: Select Photos from the “Auto Download Media” menu and select Never.

You need to disable the same for audio, video and documents.

Keep an eye on WhatsApp storage

If you are not careful, WhatsApp can consume a gigantic amount of storage on your iPhone. How much space have you freed up on your iPhone using the tips above? Share your findings in the comments below.