What to do if WhatsApp takes up a lot of space on my mobile

WhatsApp is one of the applications that we use the most on our mobile, and possibly the one that occupies the most storage. This is normal, since the application saves all multimedia files, such as videos, photos, gif, stickers… all this affects the internal storage of the system, and if your space is limited, WhatsApp may be to blame. What can I do if WhatsApp takes up a lot of space? We give you some tips to free up some storage.

Turn off automatic download

One of the first steps you should do is to disable the automatic download of photos and videos. That is, make the photos or videos that pass you through WhatsApp not download automatically so that they are not saved in the gallery of your mobile. To do this, go to the app and in the 'Settings' section enter the 'Chat' option. Then turn off the option that says 'Save to Photos' or 'Save to Gallery'. Now, when they send you an image by WhatsApp you will have to click on the download button to see the image.

Can I use this option in groups? If you only want the images of the groups to not be downloaded, but of the conversations, there is an option. You have to go to the group or conversation that you want to establish manual download of photos. Click on the group's name and in the section that says 'Save to Photos' or 'Save to Gallery', tap Never. Be careful, this will not stop you from receiving the photos, you just have to click on the image to download it.

Eliminate conversations

Yes, conversations also take up storage in the system. In WhatsApp you can delete conversations, but you should know that, when deleting a conversation, images, audio and other multimedia content can also be deleted. The most advisable thing is to eliminate some points of those conversations that have a greater weight. For example, just delete stickers or GIFs. How can I find out which chats take up the most space?

Again, head to WhatsApp> Settings> Data and storage. Within this section, go to the last option, the one that says 'Storage use'. There you will see all the conversations and their total weight. Click on the one you want to empty and click on the 'Manage' option. Now, turn off everything you don't want to be removed from the conversation. For example, if you want to keep the text, uncheck the box. Same with audio, GIF etc. When you have everything selected press 'Empty'.

If, on the other hand, you want to delete the entire conversation, go to the chats section and within the conversation click on the name of the contact. Finally, click on 'Empty chat'.

Check the gallery from time to time

Check your photo gallery, especially the WhatsApp folder. This way you can delete the photos that you don't want to have and that may be taking up space on your internal storage. Same with videos. This is advisable to do every week, since many times we will download images that we do not even want to have on our mobile.

Another option is to upload these images to the cloud and remove them from the gallery. You can use, for example, Google Photos.

Beware of sticker packs

I am one of those people who has hundreds and hundreds of Stickers on WhatsApp, different packs or albums with these fun stickers that can be sent to conversations, but I also have 128 GB on my mobile. Believe it or not, these packs can take up space in your internal storage, especially if you are one of those who accumulate a huge amount. Eliminate those you don't use and avoid sticker applications, as they can also take up space.