If you ask a group of people what is the easiest way to send and receive pictures and videos from friends, I bet most of them will answer WhatsApp. With over a billion daily active users, WhatsApp has truly revolutionized the way we share media and has long replaced humble text messaging.
The WhatsApp compression tool that compresses the size of images and videos before sending them has really made an impact on people using slower and limited data plans.
Although WhatsApp compresses media files, the default auto-download feature starts taking up a lot of internal memory. While people with expandable memory slots in their phones may not care, those with limited internal storage may want to reclaim space by deleting these WhatsApp files.
In addition, it wreaks havoc on your limited mobile data plan and also your phone library, especially if you are a member of a WhatsApp group.
So let’s see how we can delete the entire WhatsApp media library on our Android device in the easiest possible ways.
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Delete WhatsApp data file
There are many ways you can get rid of WhatsApp media files on your device, but we will look at the two best options.
Delete individual media files with the file manager
Like any other Android app, WhatsApp uses dedicated folders on your phone memory to store media files. These files are stored under SD Card/WhatsApp/Media Folder which again contains subfolders for audio, images, video, and voice. I used ES File Explorer for the task but feel free to choose any other file manager available for Android.
This method can be used if you only want to delete a specific type of media file like videos or voice messages for WhatsApp. For example, if you want to delete all the videos that you have sent and received using WhatsApp, you can simply select the WhatsApp Videos folder and delete it. That’s it and you can repeat the same for image and audio files.
Note
Delete all WhatsApp media files
You can always delete the WhatsApp media folder using the file explorer. But the best way to delete all media files is to use Android Storage Settings. In the Android storage settings, find the Miscellaneous storage section and tap it. Here, find the WhatsApp option and tick it. You’ll also see how much storage the app has taken up on your device’s memory. Once you have selected the option, tap the delete button.
So that’s how you can delete all WhatsApp media files on your Android device. However, after deleting them, you may find broken links to images in your Android gallery. To fix the problem, open your Android settings and navigate to application part.
Here, under the All apps section, search Storage media. Finally, tap on Media Storage and clear app data using Delete data button. Reboot your phone and take the time to rebuild your thumbnail database. This process may take several minutes.
Note
Prevent unnecessary downloads in the future
One thing we can do to minimize WhatsApp data size is to turn off automatic downloads from the application. Our friends send us many pictures and videos that are automatically downloaded by default even if we don’t care about the content. As noted above, if you are on a limited mobile data plan, it will be dropped.
If you’re on a limited mobile data plan, that plan will be dropped.
These files are saved in the phone’s memory and become junk data. So to stop automatic media downloads, open WhatsApp settings (vertical dot in upper right corner) and navigate to Data usage and storage.
Did you know that the Initial Data Usage Settings menu is located in chat settings?
Under Media auto download you will find three options,
- When using mobile data
- When using Wi-Fi
- When roaming
To disable automatic downloads, open the first option and uncheck all four options. Repeat for the WiFi option.
That’s it, from now on you can manually download WhatsApp images and videos and your phone gallery will be neat and clean. Do I hear the phone’s camera roll folder cheering?
See also: How to send full resolution photos in WhatsApp
Conclusion
So that’s how you can delete unnecessary WhatsApp media files and reclaim storage space. If you are deleting files during the first few months after installing WhatsApp, you will be surprised to see how much internal storage is freed up.
Just don’t forget to back up some important photos before you start deleting them from your smartphone. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section.
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Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
