WhatsApp is a popular instant messenger used by millions of users. Over time, the application may experience failures associated not only with errors in the program code. WhatsApp or any other messenger stores a large amount of information: messages, photos, videos, animations. All this leads to long startup times and crashes. To prevent mistakes, you need to clear your cache and delete unnecessary chats on time. Next, we’ll talk in detail about how to clean WhatsApp messenger on Android and iPhone.
How to clean WhatsApp
There are several ways to clear your phone's memory of excess garbage that the application constantly saves:
- Using the function built into the mobile application.
- Removing media through the file manager.
- Manual cleaning of group chats and dialogues.
How quickly does storage fill up?
Imagine the situation - you are a participant in a group dialogue in which several dozen participants are actively communicating, exchanging photos, images, GIF animations, stickers and emoticons. Every time you open a picture or photo for viewing, it is automatically saved on your device, thereby filling useful space with various garbage.
It would seem that 1-2 pictures do not take up too much space, but if there are dozens or hundreds of them, the folder with media data can reach several gigabytes in size. It is impossible to calculate the exact period of how quickly your smartphone’s memory will be filled with junk data. It all depends on your activity and the activity of members of groups in which you are a member or are their administrator.
With the average statistical activity of daily communication and exchange of photos, GIF animations, audio messages and video files, the amount of data in the storage can grow up to 2 GB in a month.
Why clean WhatsApp
All received messages, photos, voice recordings, music tracks are stored in the internal memory of the messenger. Unnecessary files that subscribers carefully send you can take up several gigabytes. You no longer have free space and this becomes a real problem.
A clogged smartphone displays errors and does not download new information. This problem can be resolved by cleaning the storage.
All unnecessary information can be deleted in a few minutes and free up WhatsApp space. How often should I clean? It depends only on how quickly the smartphone's memory fills up.
Clearing WhatsApp Chat
Why you need to clear the cache on WhatsApp
Clearing the cache means freeing up useful disk space. It is especially important to delete videos from WhatsApp, since they take up the most space.
Phone memory is not unlimited. And taking into account that WhatsApp is installed on the built-in drive, and not on a removable SD drive, when the memory is filled with media data, the phone begins to slow down, applications work slowly, and errors may occur. Standard clearing of the phone cache does not help the situation. Folders with stored text messages, photos, audio and video files transferred in the messenger remain untouched during this cleaning.
That is, you can really clean your phone of garbage and unload the memory and WhatsApp itself only either from the settings parameters of the application itself, or manually, using some kind of file manager
Depending on the device, if your phone does not have a built-in file explorer, you can install it to access WhatsApp folders with media data stored in them.
What data will be deleted when clearing the cache in WhatsApp
It all depends on the method chosen by the owner. If a so-called full cleaning is carried out, the following information will be deleted:
- All messages in full.
- Media files you have received.
Moreover, if you clear the cache through the phone settings section, only truly unnecessary information, for example duplicated information, will be released. This is a softer way. As for your own files that you previously sent to users, they will be saved. The main thing is to set up autosave to the cloud, then you won’t lose anything when cleaning it.
How to clear WhatsApp
As we already wrote above, there are several ways to delete unnecessary files stored on the device. Also, depending on the device, the cleaning procedure may differ.
Delete media files, videos
Media files include all photographs, pictures, stickers, GIF animations and short videos, voice messages. They eat up the memory on the device the most. A funny video that was sent to you in a chat, which you watched once and forgot about, will remain on your smartphone forever.
Partial messages
Messages also take up space, although not as obviously as media files. A couple of dozen, or even a hundred messages will not significantly affect performance. But a large number of messages from a year ago also takes up useful space. Chat messages can be deleted either individually or all at once.
Settings for Android
To find out how to clear WhatsApp through the application settings, follow these instructions:
- Launch WhatsApp on your smartphone.
- Go to the menu (click on the button in the form of three dots in the upper right corner) and select "Settings".
- Then open the Data and Storage . The system will calculate the volume of files stored here.
- Press "Storage Management" – all your dialogues and group chats will be displayed here, and to the right of each of them it will be indicated how much data is stored in each chat.
- Go to the chat you are interested in, the data of which needs to be cleared. Here are detailed statistics: how many text messages, GIF animations, photos, voice messages.
- To clear a chat, click Free up space .
- Tick the checkboxes indicating which data you want to delete. And click "Delete objects" .
- Confirm the deletion again. If necessary, check the "Delete favorite messages" .
Repeat the procedure for each chat separately.
Now let's figure out how to clear WhatsApp data on Android for each chat. Follow the simple step-by-step instructions:
- To do this, open a dialog with a contact and click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
- Select Media, Links and Documents or Media Groups from the pop-up menu.
- Here, all media data is divided into categories; by switching by deposit, you can see what content is stored on the phone and what can be deleted.
- To delete, long press on the picture (link or document) to activate the Selection . Select multiple files if necessary.
- To delete selected files, click on the trash can icon at the top of the screen.
- Confirm deletion. You can do the same with links and documents.
The file will only be deleted in your chat and on your device. It will remain with the interlocutor if he has not previously erased it.
Settings for iPhone
Instructions on how to clean WhatsApp on iPhone:
- Go to the “Settings” (the gear-shaped button in the lower right corner).
- Next, select from the list of options "Data and Storage".
- Manage Storage again .
- As is the case with Android devices, lists of dialogs will be displayed on the screen, indicating the media data stored in them.
- Select any chat and go to the "Manage" .
- Tick the necessary checkboxes with certain types of data and click at the bottom of the page “Clear” .
Clear iCloud from WhatsApp messages
Apple devices tend to copy everything and store it in cloud storage. WhatsApp data is also saved to iCloud. To clear your cloud of unnecessary backups, follow these simple step-by-step instructions:
- Open iCloud .
- Go to "Storage" and click "Manage" .
- Next, select WhatsApp and click “Delete all” .
This way you will delete all backup copies of messages and media data from WhatsApp that are stored in the cloud.
Deleting received images
All files received in the messenger are located in a separate folder in the gallery. This makes them easier to view some time after saving. Files can be deleted individually or all at once. To do this, open Explorer and find the desired folder. A long touch selects files. Next, find the trash icon at the top of the page and confirm the deletion. You can completely eliminate a folder by selecting it and clicking the trash can icon. You can find the files in the root folder of WhatsApp. To do this, select an object called Whatsapp Media. Removal is performed in the standard way.
Delete media using File Explorer or file manager
If your Android device has a built-in file manager, you can clear data on WhatsApp through it. For devices that do not have a built-in tool for working with files, you can download a suitable application from the Play Market, for example “Mi Explorer”.
Below are detailed instructions on how to delete media files from WhatsApp using a file manager:
- Open it and go to the internal storage directory. Here you will find many folders. By default, the first in the list should be the Android system folder and other directories with stored system files. We need a folder with the name of the application whatsapp. She is at the very bottom of the list.
- Inside it you will find three more folders: Backups, Databases and Media . We need a third one - Media .
- In it, all media data is also divided into categories: videos in one folder, stickers, photos, documents in others. In principle, you can delete the directories themselves so as not to search for anything.
How to delete pictures
Media files take up a lot of space in the phone's memory. If necessary, you can use the cloud to store pictures and other files. If you have unnecessary materials, you can remove them as follows:
- Open phone explorer. The folder may be named "Files" on new gadgets.
- In the “Place” item, go to the “Phone” section.
- Scroll down the list and find a folder called “WhatsApp”.
- Select the “Media” directory using a hold gesture.
- On the toolbar, click “Delete”.
Completely deleting WhatsApp conversations
There is a way to delete all data for a specific conversation from the device and the chat itself:
- Launch the application.
- Go to the chat you are interested in and click on the button in the form of three dots and select “More” to open additional options.
- In the list of additional options, click "Clear chat" and confirm the deletion.
The dialogue history will be cleared. This procedure is irrevocable and once deleted, messages and media cannot be restored. Unless you have previously made a backup and stored it in the Google cloud or iCloud.
How to sync WhatsApp on Android?
Open WhatsApp. Tap More options > Settings > Chats > Chat backup > Google Drive backup. Select a backup frequency other than Never. Select a Google account to back up your chat history.
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Autosave media settings
To prevent the device’s memory from being filled with unnecessary data, you can configure the settings for saving photos, pictures, and video files.
In the “Data and Storage” , select in the “Media Autoload” - in what situation and what media data will be saved on the device. For example, when a mobile network is connected, only photos , and when WiFi is connected, “Everything” . Or disable autosave altogether and save important photos or favorite pictures manually.
What is WhatsApp storage
Storage is a messenger cache located in the phone's memory. It stores all text, voice messages, photos, gifs, videos, etc. Users should know how to delete files from WhatsApp storage, since its overflow leads to disruption of the messenger's functioning.
How to open cache
Many users are concerned about the question of how to view the WhatsApp storage, since not everyone knows where it is located. In it you can see the total weight of files, network usage statistics, and also configure auto-loading of media.
To check whether WhatsApp is taking up a lot of memory on an iPhone or Android, you need to go to the messenger settings, go to “Data and storage” - “Manage storage”.
There you can find all the statistics on the amount of used and free space. In management you can view all objects of a specific chat, the most frequently sent messages and individual files weighing more than 5 MB.
Should you worry about your data?
You can clear the cache on WhatsApp for free without using third-party services. Should I worry about the safety of messages and saved contacts? When performing the operation, only unused files that have been saved for the entire time the messenger has been running will be erased.
If you clear the cache in WhatsApp, what will be deleted? Only temporary files that are needed to speed up the messenger will be erased. To remove unnecessary photos or videos, you will have to open the device explorer or gallery yourself and search for media.
A quick and easy way to clear your cache
There is another option on how to delete CACHE on WhatsApp. To do this, you don’t have to go to the menu or install third-party services. Just reboot your smartphone by turning it off, waiting 30-60 seconds and turning it on again.
This action will not completely clear the WhatsApp cache, but temporary files will be deleted. If you need to perform a deep clean and remove all unnecessary files, you will have to first erase all unnecessary media, then go to the smartphone settings and press the delete cache key.
Deleting conversation history
You can completely delete the chat history without deleting the conversation itself, and thereby clear the phone’s memory of the data stored in the chat as follows.
- Open the dialog.
- Next, click on the menu in the upper right corner and select “ More
”. - From the additional menu, select " Clear chat
". - Confirm deletion.
Important: keep in mind that you will delete message history only on your device; the other person will retain all messages and media data. The function of deleting messages from the interlocutor only works in the first hour after sending the message.
