How to block auto download in whatsapp
How to Stop WhatsApp from Downloading and Saving Photos, Videos Automatically on Android, iPhone
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By Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 16 June 2017 11:09 IST
WhatsApp is used by over a 1.2 billion people worldwide, and 200 million in India alone. In fact, it is probably one of the first apps anyone in India downloads when they get a new smartphone as it has become the default means of texting in the country. However, it can become an annoyance too when it downloads all the media files automatically, from pictures to videos to, more recently, GIFs, not to mention audio files and videos. These not only clutter your phone's gallery and music player, but also eat up a lot of storage and data. Here's how you can stop WhatsApp from automatically saving photos and audio on your phone.
How to Stop Auto Downloading and Saving of Pictures, Videos and Other Media on Whatsapp for Android
WhatsApp for Android has a switch that lets you stop images and videos from downloading. Here's how you can do it:
- Open WhatsApp, make sure you are seeing the main window - where all your chats are displayed. Tap the three vertical dots on the top right > Settings.
- Now tap Chat settings > Media auto-download. You'll see three options: When using cellular data, When connected on Wi-Fi and When roaming. Tap each one and disable auto-downloads by unchecking all three options - Images, Audio and Video.
To view photos, you will have to download them. When you do, WhatsApp saves them in a folder, and you can get inundated with stupid memes and other unwanted content, which is visible to anyone who open's your phone's Gallery App. However, it is possible to stop these photos from appearing in the Gallery app. Here's how:
- Download Quickpic and open the app.
- Navigate to the WhatsApp media folders. The location of the WhatsApp folder varies across devices but it should typically be the following: Internal Storage (sometimes labelled sdcard0) > WhatsApp > Media > WhatsApp Images, > WhatsApp > Media > WhatsApp Audio, and WhatsApp > Media > WhatsApp Videos.
- Long-press the WhatsApp Images folder and make sure that it is selected. Do the same with the WhatsApp Video and WhatsApp Audio folders.
- After selecting the three folders, tap the three dots icon on the top-right > Hide. This will ensure that the Gallery app doesn't show them. You can still view these images and videos within WhatsApp and through any apps that let you view hidden folders. But if you pass your phone to someone, you no longer need worry about them seeing the WhatsApp photos and videos through the Gallery app.
How to Hide Last Seen on WhatsApp
How to Stop Auto Downloading and Saving of Pictures, Videos and Other Media on WhatsApp for iPhone
You can turn off media auto-download on iPhone too via the Settings menu.
- Open WhatsApp and tap the Settings button at the bottom-right, and tap on Data and Storage Usage
- In this menu, you will see the Media Auto-Download option on top
- For Photos, Audio, Videos, and Documents, select the Never option
Now only the files you choose to download manually will appear on your phone, and you can even choose to stop the photos and videos from appearing the phone's Camera Roll.
All you need to do is to go to Chats in the Settings menu, open the Save to Camera Roll menu, and turn it to off. This stops the pictures people are sending from showing up in the camera roll, and taking over your synced Photo Stream.
How to Block a Contact on WhatsApp
Not saving images automatically has its advantages, but it also means that you will have to download each photo manually. If you end up downloading each and every image anyway, then it's probably best to leave this feature active. Let us know if this tutorial helped you via the comments. For more such useful articles, visit our How to section.
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Further reading: Android, BlackBerry, Nokia, WhatsApp, Windows Phone, iOS
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How to stop WhatsApp from downloading photos automatically
This article was published on February 18, 2019
Image by: PexelStory by
Ivan Mehta
Story by
Ivan Mehta
Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW.
That's one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say "Bleh." Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That's one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say "Bleh."
Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and connected services.
It’s quite annoying when your phone’s running out of the storage, and the reason is usually the random photos and memes that your friends sent you on WhatsApp. By default, WhatsApp downloads photos to your phone automatically. We’ll show you how to stop this monstrosity.
On iOS
- Head to Settings>Data and Storage Usage
- Click on Photos
- Select Never option to stop downloading photos automatically.
You can repeat the process for any type of media like videos and audio.
On Android
- Head to Settings>Data and storage usage.
- Scroll down to Media auto-download.
- Choose When using mobile data.
- Uncheck Photos option from the dialog box.
- Repeat this for When connected on Wi-Fi and When Roaming options.
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And that’s it! Now you can safely open WhatsApp without it highjacking your storage.
Check out all our Basics articles here.
Also tagged with
WhatsApp: how to stop auto-uploading photos and videos
How to remove saving photos in WhatsApp?
How to disable auto-saving of photos to iPhone and Android gallery in Whatsapp
- Open Whatsapp.
- In the lower right corner, click on the gear "Settings"
- Select the menu item "Chats"
- Uncheck "Save Media"
How to remove WhatsApp autoload on iPhone?
Incoming images and videos will no longer be saved to the Camera Roll.
…
How to turn off automatic uploading of photos and videos in WhatsApp for iPhone
- Open WhatsApp on iPhone and go to the "Settings" tab.
- Go to the Chats menu.
- Set the switch opposite the "To Film" item to the inactive position.
How to disable autosave in WhatsApp Android?
How to stop WhatsApp media from being stored in the phone gallery
- Open WhatsApp.
- Click on More Options > > Settings > Chats .
- Disable media visibility.
How to remove a video call from WhatsApp?
From your profile menu, go to the "Settings" section. Open Notifications. Press the "Sound" button located in the "WhatsApp Call" section.
Select "Mute".
How to enable saving photos in WhatsApp?
Launch WhatsApp and go to the "Settings" of the program by touching the corresponding icon in the lower right corner of the screen. Open the settings section called "Data and storage". The category of settings we are interested in is titled "AUTO LOAD MEDIA" - tap here "Photo".
How to save photos from WhatsApp to gallery?
We will immediately give an answer to the question of where Whatsapp photos are stored - in the smartphone gallery, with any download method they will be transferred there.
…
Android
- Open WhatsApp and click on the "Chats" button on the top bar;
- Select the desired conversation and open it;
- You will see a gray “Save” arrow above the picture;
How to turn off auto upload photos on iPhone?
How to enable or disable auto download and sync
In the upper right corner of the screen, tap your profile picture or initial icon.
Autoload and sync. Enable or disable auto download and sync.
How to remove auto-upload photos in WhatsApp?
On Android smartphones, you can easily turn off automatic saving of files sent by your contacts. Open WhatsApp and go to the "Settings" menu. Navigate to the "Data & Storage" section and look for the "Media Startup" category.
How to turn off photo saving on iPhone?
To turn off iCloud Photos on all devices:
- On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Photos, then tap Disable & Delete.
- On a Mac, go to Apple menu > System Preferences > iCloud.
How to turn off WhatsApp backup?
How to turn off WhatsApp backup
- Open WhatsApp, click on the vertical dots.
- Enter "Settings".
- Click the "Chats" section.
- Now in the Google Drive settings, click on Backups.
- Check the box next to “Never”.
How to save WhatsApp photos to a memory card?
To save media files to a memory card, you need:
- open smartphone settings;
- find the “Storage”, “Memory” or “Content settings” section;
- select “Default storage location”;
- check the box next to “SD card”.
Why doesn't WhatsApp save photos to the gallery?
WhatsApp files are stored on the phone in a special WhatsApp folder. But in order for them to be saved, you need to make a note in the WhatsApp settings to always save files. … The application itself creates a new WhatsApp folder. And now everything that comes will be in the gallery.
How can I remove the video call?
The company's clients - individuals and legal entities (except for PRIVET subscribers), if necessary, can disable the "Video Call" service by submitting a written application in the form established by the company to the A1 sales and service center or to the company's official attorneys.
How to turn off the camera in WhatsApp?
During a video call, press Turn off camera . In this case, your interlocutor will receive a corresponding notification. When your interlocutor turns off his camera, you will switch to an audio call.
How to disable auto-download in WhatsApp
Do you know how to disable auto-download in WhatsApp for any type of media to save bandwidth? If you haven't heard it yet, let's talk! There is a great way to save precious megabytes of data that are wasted on content that is not always needed.
Disabling auto-upload on iPhone
You can disable auto-upload of photos in WhatsApp in a few seconds - first, let's figure out why you need to be able to work with the option? You can independently regulate which types of content you prioritize.
As a reminder, any documents or multimedia should be downloaded when connected to a wireless network. If you allow uploading data on the mobile network, you can lose a large number of megabytes and significantly increase traffic consumption.
If you want to save the Internet and increase the speed of work, think about how to disable the automatic download of photos from WhatsApp. Attention! Don't confuse this with the autosave feature.
The instruction is simple:
- Open the application and click on the settings gear from the bottom right;
- Go to the Data and Storage section;
- Locate the Media Startup tab.
Here are several subsections: photos, audio, video and documents. You can click on each icon to select the download source. Three options are available to users:
- WiFi. Content only downloads when connected to a wireless network;
- Wi-Fi and cellular. Content will be loaded in the presence of any connection;
- Never. The name speaks for itself.
We want to stop auto-uploading photos in WhatsApp (and other types of content), so we select the "Never" option. Changes made are saved automatically, so you just need to exit the menu.
Important! Voice messages are always downloaded automatically.
Learn how to pin a message to a conversation here. If you decide to disable auto-download of media files in WhatsApp, be prepared for the following:
- Media will not download automatically - you need to click on each file to transfer it to the smartphone gallery;
- Videos are not downloaded in autoload format! But if you click on the "Play" button, the video will start playing, which will automatically entail a background download.
Done - the option can be canceled at any time, set up data download in a convenient way.
Disable autoload on Android
Now we answer the question of how to stop downloading photos in WhatsApp on Android. The instruction has certain differences specific to this operating system - we will not work with content types, but with available download networks.
What needs to be done?
- Enter the application and tap on the three dots at the top right;
- Open Settings and find the Data & Storage tab.
Now you can select the type of network you are using:
- Mobile network. This is mobile internet;
- WiFi. Wireless connection;
- Roaming. Connection while abroad.
To turn off the download of photos from WhatsApp through any source, you need to open each of the three menus presented above and uncheck all the lines.
The following options are available:
- Photos;
- Video;
- Documents;
- Audio.
If you want to disable the automatic upload of photos in WhatsApp, uncheck the box opposite (green checkmark) and save the changes. Don't forget to open the menu of all connection types - mobile, wireless and roaming, to disable auto-download exactly.
You have learned how to remove autoload in WhatsApp - a great solution to save traffic. If you want to opt out of automatic downloads in order to hide content from the smartphone gallery, you can go the other way without disabling the option.
