WhatsApp Messenger is the world’s most popular messaging app with over 600 million active users but that doesn’t mean the app is without its quirks and annoyances. If you’re a first time user of the app, you probably may have noticed that the app has a tendency to automatically download audio and image files by default. If you are someone who is not amused by the fact, then this tutorial should be your guide to prevent WhatsApp from automatically downloading photos and other media files on your Android and iPhone.
Prevent WhatsApp Automatically Downloading Photos
1. Open WhatsApp, ensure that you are on the main Chat window and tap the Menu button (three vertical dots on the top right of the screen) and navigate to Settings.
2. Tap Chat settings and then tap Media auto-download. Three options will be available to you.
- When using cellular data
- When connected on Wi-Fi
- When roaming.
3. Tap each option and uncheck Images, Audio and Video option to disable auto-downloads.
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If you want your WhatsApp photos to stop showing up in your Gallery, there’s no direct way to do it. You will need the help of another application such as Quickpic to get the job done. Just download Quickpic from the Play store and open it up. Then navigate to the WhatsApp media folders, which would ideally be on your SD card. Long press the WhatsApp Images folder and then tap the three dots icon on the top-right and select Hide. This will automatically hide the media files in the Gallery app.
How to Stop WhatsApp from Saving Downloaded Media Files on iPhone
Although there is no way to stop WhatsApp from auto-downloading photos on your iPhone, you can stop the app from saving the photos automatically to your Camera roll. To prevent WhatsApp from automatically doing this, here’s what you need to do.
1. Open WhatsApp and tap the Settings button at the bottom right of the screen.
2. Go to Chat settings and then tap Save incoming media > Off.
This will automatically stop the pictures people are sending from showing up in the camera roll, saving you the trouble of having to clear out a bunch of unwanted stuff from syncing into your Photo Stream.
As far as downloading videos go, the app will ask whether you want to download videos and you can then make your choice accordingly.
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