WhatsApp is one of the most used instant messaging apps. You can use it to exchange not only texts, photos, and various multimedia files, with the risk of sometimes forgetting to delete even “heavy” elements, unnecessarily occupying the storage space.
WhatsApp chats (including multimedia files) are stored locally (on the device) and not on the server (it is possible to perform periodic backups on the cloud, but that’s another story). You can reclaim storage space by deleting GIF files, videos, photos, and other items to reclaim space. Here’s how to go about it.
How to free up WhatsApp storage space on iPhone
- Open WhatsApp
- Tap on “Settings”
- Select “Data Storage and Usage”
- Click on “Storage Usage”
- Select “Manage Space”
You will see three sections: “Over 5MB” at the top, “Submitted many times” in the center, and “CHAT” at the bottom. You can directly select and delete the largest ones by selecting the desired elements or select the chats, ordered according to the space occupied by the elements present in each of these, select and delete the various chat elements by chat.
After selecting a chat, by default, you will see the list of elements that take up the most space. By touching the icon at the bottom it is possible to sort the list by choosing between:
- “Most recent,”
- “Older,”
- “Largest.”
You can delete all items (tap “Select All” to delete all items at once). You can also delete individual items (tap and hold the item you want to delete, selecting other items to delete multiple items at once).
If the available storage space on your device gets too low, WhatsApp may not work correctly. In this case, WhatsApp generally suggests freeing up storage space to continue using the application.
Regardless of Whatsapp, you can free up space by deleting applications you don’t use or photos, videos, and large files saved on your phone.
