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WhatsApp fills your storage and data: turn off auto-download

Step 1 of 3

WhatsApp › Settings › Storage and data

Look at the Media auto-download section.

Menu names may be slightly different on your phone brand.

  1. WhatsApp › Settings › Storage and data

    Look at the Media auto-download section.

    WhatsAppSettingsStorage and data

  2. Tap “When using mobile data”, untick everything, OK

    Photos, audio, videos and documents no longer download by themselves on mobile data. Do the same for Wi-Fi if your storage keeps filling up.

  3. Want to see a photo? Tap it

    Photos download only when you tap them. Unimportant group photos no longer fill your gallery.

From basic to technician

FixWhatsApp fills your storage and data: turn off auto-downloadYou are here
BasicMobile data (phone internet) not workingFixPhone storage full
Technical details (for the curious)

Why your gallery fills with group photos

With auto-download, every photo and video from every group is saved on the phone and often shows up in the Gallery. A busy family group can use several GB a month.

Hide them from the Gallery

Settings › Chats › turn off Media visibility: WhatsApp photos stay in the chat but don’t appear in the Gallery.

Clean up what is already there

Settings › Storage and data › Manage storage: see the largest files and the chats using the most space, then delete.

Coming soon

Still not fixed?

In the next update you can tell us what happened, and our AI helper will suggest another way. Until then, restart the device and go through the steps once more.