How to Enable/Disable Auto Download Media from WhatsApp

Author: Iqbal | Guide: WhatsApp |

WhatsApp is one the few apps that are downloaded first by smartphone users. What if that favorite messenger app eats up all the data balance? It will totally get you on your nerves, right? Also, they add more and more trash to your storage. 

It happens when WhatsApp automatically downloads the images, videos, and Audio files if you forget to disable them. In this article, we are going see how to disable media auto download.

How to Stop WhatsApp From Automatically Downloading Media on Android and iOS

How to Disable WhatsApp Auto Download on Android Phones

Android has a market share of about 84.82 % in the world. If you are holding one such android phone, follow the steps below to disable media auto download option on Android phones. 

1. Open WhatsApp and dot menu: This can be done by tapping the WhatsApp icon in the menu, and then the three dots appear in the upper right corner of the WhatsApp home window. whatsapp auto download

2. Tap on settings: On tapping the three dots, you will be shown options and then tap on the settings option. whatsapp auto download

3. Tap on Data and storage usage: On tapping this you will be shown three options for disabling auto data download. whatsapp auto download4. Tap on the menu: Tap on the following menus, one by one and follow the step 5.

  • When using mobile data
  • When connected on Wi-Fi
  • When Roaming

whatsapp auto download

5. Uncheck photos, Audio, Videos: Finally, uncheck the option in the menu’s one by one to disable auto download. whatsapp auto download

How can I hide the WhatsApp files cluttering my gallery?

Using an explorer app, Go to the WhatsApp media folder, and open the images folder, create a notepad file and name it ‘.nomedia’. Also, copy the same file in the videos folder.

How to Disable WhatsApp Auto Download on iPhone

 If you are using iPhone, you can disable the media auto-download using the following steps 

1. Open WhatsApp: by tapping on the WhatsApp icon. 

2. Tap on settings: it is on the lower right corner. Now tap on Data and storage usage. whatsapp auto download3. Disable Media Auto-Download: Do it by tapping on the photos, audio, video and documents and disable them. whatsapp auto download4. Disable the image saving to the camera roll: it is done by going to Settings>Chats>Save to Camera Roll. whatsapp auto download You can save a lot of data usage by downloading the audio, video and image files manually, selectively. There is one another feature called lower data usage, enabling this will let you save some data while voice calling.

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