How to remove whatsapp pictures from gallery
Want to delete pics, videos etc from a WhatsApp chat and keep only texts? Here’s how
Home How To Want to delete pics, videos etc from a WhatsApp chat and keep only texts? Here’s how
WhatsApp saves all the photos, videos and GIFs from every chat when it backs up your chats. It’s unnecessary clutter and you really don’t need all that there, you can delete them from the chat itself and keep just the texts.
Since WhatsApp is literally the most popular messaging app out there, pretty much everyone is on it. While it's great for convenience, this also means that you will be bombarded with forwarded photos and videos you really do not want.
Fortunately, for annoying chats like these, both individual and group chats, WhatsApp has introduced a forever mute option so as you are not annoyed by the alerts and can choose to check the messages if and when you want to.
There is also the option of turning down auto-downloads of media on your account so nothing, not even stickers, will be downloaded on your device unless you manually do it.
Also Read: WhatsApp to get join missed calls, biometric lock, new calls feature soon
In all this, there also might be some texts that you actually need and might want to keep so deleting entire texts is not an option. On WhatsApp you can choose to delete the media (photos, videos, GIFs etc) while keeping the messages only.
On both Android and iOS,
- Go to Settings, click on Data and Storage Usage, then click on Storage Usage.
- Select the contact or the group whose media you want to delete.
- Click on Manage and then tick all the boxes you want deleted - like photos or videos or GIFs, or all of them. Leave out the text messages box.
- Click on Clear and then confirm.
Alternately, you can see that you have the option to just keep the media and delete the texts. Pick what you need.
Going forward, you can adjust settings for particular group chats/contacts to prevent media from getting downloaded automatically.
On iOS, go to Chat, select the contact or the group chat you want to stop these auto-downloads for. Click on the contact or subject on top of the display, then go to Save to Camera Roll and change Default/Always to Never.
Also Read: WhatsApp now lets you mute chats forever
For Android, go to the contact or group chat, click on the top bar, select media visibility, change the settings here from default to a no or a yes, as you want. Click on okay to confirm your selection.
Across iOS, you can stop media from being saved to your camera roll by going to Settings, clicking on Chats and toggling off ‘Save to Camera Roll' from Default/Always to Never.
On Android you can do it by going to Settings, then Chats, then toggling off Show Media in Gallery or Media Visibility.
Special tip
There's another tried and tested way around this where you can take a look at what has been sent and then decide if you want to save that photo or video or not.
This works only if you use WhatsApp Web chat.
On WhatsApp web, you can check out the media sent on the web first and then decide if you want to download it and save it on your smartphone. Downloading media on the web does not automatically save it on your smartphone.
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First Published Date: 27 Oct, 19:55 IST
Tags: whatsapp
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How to delete unwanted WhatsApp media from your Android phone
There are perks and downsides to using WhatsApp, the world’s most widely used messaging app.
An upside is that your contacts are more likely to be on WhatsApp, but at the same time, you also have to put up with those obnoxious good morning messages, expendable memes, and all sorts of unnecessary stuff that, once downloaded, will sit in your phone for eternity. But that growing pile can be particularly concerning on phones with limited internal storage, and with expandable memory becoming rare, it can be a challenge. Handling all the WhatsApp media and files running into several GBs can be a big and tedious task for sure, but here's our guide for cleaning WhatsApp photos, videos, files, and other stuff from your phone.
Use the WhatsApp’s built-in storage tool
With WhatsApp, it's easy to identify chats using a lot of storage and may slow down your phone. Using the storage manager, you can easily sort the files by size and delete the ones you don’t need anymore or have already backed up. Here’s how you can get there:
- In the main Chats tab, go to Settings by tapping the vertical ellipses icon at the top.
- Head to Storage and data and select the first option that says Manage storage. There you’ll see the break-up of the storage WhatsApp is using, along with some suggestions and a list of chats sorted by size.
- Go into Larger than 5MB to glance at the files taking up the most storage across all chats, or tap on the first chat to reveal all the files you’ve received from that contact. They are sorted by size by default, but you can change that order from the hamburger menu at the top.
- Now you just have to select the media and files you don’t want anymore and hit the delete button. Removing a file from here also wipes it from your phone storage unless you’ve made another copy of it outside the default WhatsApp folder.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 with as many chats as required to reclaim most of the storage space.
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There’s a good chance you only have a few (or single) contacts or groups that send a lot of junk.
Instead of going the long way, you can simply get rid of their stuff from their chat window itself.
- When on their chat screen, tap the ellipses menu at the top-right corner and select Media, links, and docs.
- On the next screen, you’ll see all the files in that chat arranged by type. You don’t get the option to sort them by size, so you’ll have to scan the files manually.
- Select all the files and media that need to go and tap the trash icon in the top menu.
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A few more useful tools that can help you get your media off WhatsApp
It can be tough to keep track of your phone’s storage when you have a bunch of contacts and groups sending you all kinds of photos, videos, PDFs, and whatnot. If you fall under that group, you’ll appreciate having some smart tools that make your life easier.
Files by Google
Files by Google was originally designed for super-cheap phones running Android Go-edition to help users manage meager phone storage.
As it turns out, you can use the same AI smarts to filter out WhatsApp files that need to be trashed. The Clean section of the app gives you an overview of what’s taking up the most space and gives suggestions based on what’s there in those images.
Frair warning: The Files by Google app messes up identifying the image content sometimes. Although its fairly accurate, you'll want to take a quick glance at the app's recommendations before you get rid of your WhatsApp media.
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Besides that, the Files app also highlights the WhatsApp images folder so that you don’t have to dig for the folder manually. That comes in handy if you prefer looking at all your WhatsApp media in one place instead of getting to them one chat at a time.
Save your photos to Google Photos
Google Photos continues to be the best photo management app for Android, and it’s no surprise that it works well for managing WhatsApp media, too.
Of course, you'll what to keep your Google Photos feed organized, or you'll learn just how quickly 15GB of free Google Drive storage can disappear. Like Files, Photos also gives quick access to your WhatsApp media folders where you can back up any important stuff or get rid of what you don’t need anymore.
The backup feature on Google Photos is the most helpful. After the Google Photos app has backed up an important image or video on WhatsApp, you just need to use the Free up space feature, to remove it from WhatsApp
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Neither of these two apps is ideal when organizing a ton of WhatsApp files, but they do help trim down the clutter quite a bit to make it more manageable. There are a handful of third-party apps that claim to automate the entire process, but we advise going against them. That’s because many of them do image processing in the cloud, and we're guessing you wouldn’t want your personal photos to end up on a no-name remote server.
How to keep WhatsApp from hogging your phone storage in the future
You’ll probably find yourself scrambling to clear your phone’s storage in no time if you don’t prevent WhatsApp from filling up the space again. There are a few simple things you can do to ensure that.
Save a lot of space on WhatApp by turning off media auto-download
Head to Settings > Storage and data and deactivate auto-download for all file and network types. Doing this will give you control over what files you want to download on your phone and which are best left unseen.
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Hide your media visibility in the WhatsApp gallery
Those who just don’t want media shared on WhatsApp to show up in their phone’s gallery app can toggle it off from Settings > Chats > Media visibility. Instead of a universal rule, you can do that for individual chats and groups as well by going to their profile page > Media visibility > select no.
Note that doing this just won’t show the images and videos in the gallery app; they’ll still be downloaded in the default WhatsApp folder.
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Use WhatsApp web if you live on your laptop
People who spend most of their time on a computer should use WhatsApp web for their chats. Media files viewed on the desktop naturally don’t take up any space on your phone, though they still remain accessible whenever you need to download them. This is particularly helpful for single-use files that would otherwise live on your phone storage until you got to them manually.
WhatsApp isn't the only game in town
Yes, WhatsApp is the app everyone uses to chat (unless you're in the US), but it's not the only awesome third-party messaging platform. Check out our favorite end-to-end encrypted messaging apps if you want to chat with your friends and family in private.
How to delete a photo in WhatsApp
Time to read the article 5 minutes.
The information is up to date! The material was checked on 12/9/2022.
WhatsApp users exchange media files in large quantities, which heavily loads the device's memory. Therefore, it is worth figuring out how to delete photos in WhatsApp from your device, as well as in correspondence with yourself and other chat participants.
How to delete a photo in WhatsApp for everyone
If a user inadvertently sent media to the wrong chat, he should know how to delete a photo in WhatsApp for everyone. This function can be used in both individual and group correspondence. Image deletion features:
- You can request deletion from all recipients only within an hour (more precisely 68 minutes) after sending SMS.
- Users can view the object before deletion.
- If the removal of extra photos in the WhatsApp chat failed, the user will not receive a notification about this. An error may occur if the latest version of the application is not installed.
- For iOS users, photos may remain in WhatsApp storage even after they are deleted.
- Cleaning deletes the object in this chat only. His copies in other correspondence will remain available for viewing. nine0017
Useful: send a photo file via Whatsapp — you can!
You can delete photos in WhatsApp everywhere using the following instructions:
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- Open a chat in the messenger. Click on the picture and hold it for a few seconds. If you need to remove several media at once, you should mark them all.
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- Click on the trash can icon and select "Delete for everyone".
- Contacts who are in a conversation will have the message "This message has been deleted" instead of the picture. This alert can be removed. nine0017
How to get rid of photos in WhatsApp from yourself
To delete sent photos and videos from WhatsApp from your phone, you can completely clear the storage or remove media selectively.
In this case, SMS disappear only from the memory and history of the correspondence of the deleter. Other chat participants will not receive any notifications about this action. Find out where photos are stored on your computer in the article at the link.
On iPhone
You can delete a photo in WhatsApp on iPhone from correspondence by following this instruction:
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- Open a conversation in the messenger. Click on the picture and hold for a few seconds. Optionally select multiple media.
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- Tap on the trash can icon. In the window that opens, select the option "I have".
Deleting in storage
Images can be deleted not only in correspondence, but also in the messenger storage. This can be done according to the following instructions:
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- Open the application, tap on the "Settings" tab.
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- Go to the "Data and storage" item, "Storage" sub-item.
- Go to the "Data and storage" item, "Storage" sub-item.
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- The page that opens will contain a list of all chats sorted by the amount of memory they use. By clicking on the name of the group (contact name), the user will see all types of files sent to a particular chat. Nearby will be indicated the number of objects and their total weight. nine0017
- Tap on the Manage button at the bottom of the screen. Check the box "Photo" and other items if necessary. Double click "Clear".
How to delete a photo from WhatsApp on your phone:
- Open the "Camera Roll", go to the messenger folder.
- Mark images to be discarded and confirm deletion.
Useful: how to restore photos after deletion.
On Android
To delete photos from WhatsApp on Android, you need:
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- Open the application, go to the conversation.
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- Press and hold the desired media.
You can mark multiple messages.
- Press and hold the desired media.
- Tap on the trash can icon at the top of the screen and click on the "I have" option.
Mass clean up of unwanted media can be done through the storage of the messenger. The user can get rid of files in individual chats or in WhatsApp as a whole as follows:
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- Open the application, tap on the ellipsis.
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- Go to "Settings", then to "Data and storage".
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- Open Storage Management. The page will contain a list of chats sorted by the size of the files they contain.
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- Tap on the name of the desired correspondence. A list of all objects will open, also sorted by size. nine0017
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- Check the boxes for individual items to be deleted, or click Select All at the top of the screen.
Confirm cleaning.
- Check the boxes for individual items to be deleted, or click Select All at the top of the screen.
- Before deleting, you can check the box next to the inscription "Delete all copies". It is understood that copies of this object sent to other chats will also be deleted. The process is automatic, you do not need to look for copies yourself.
Manual deletion
To manually delete a photo from a WhatsApp group:
- Open the messenger, go to the group conversation. Click on the ellipsis, select "Media Groups".
- In the "Media" tab, mark all unnecessary pictures. Tap on the trash can icon.
- Check the box to clear the media in this chat and confirm the action.
Deleting from the gallery
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- Open "Explorer" go to the internal memory.
- Find the messenger folder, go to "Media", "Images".
- Mark junk files and clean up.
You can delete a photo in WhatsApp from the message history directly in the correspondence or using the storage. In the latter case, the user can clear all chats from media or get rid of certain objects and their copies. Pay attention to our other materials, for example - How to restore correspondence in WhatsApp. nine0004
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Fun for you
How to delete a photo in WhatsApp for everyone: detailed instructions
No matter what operating system your phone is running on, you can get rid of an image sent by mistake in less than a minute. Use ready-made instructions on how to delete photos in WhatsApp for everyone, and you can quickly remove media files in a conversation with yourself and your interlocutor. At the same time, we will tell you where such data can be stored, and how to configure their management so that they do not take up memory.
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How to delete a photo in WhatsApp for everyone
Messenger developers have taken into account such an opportunity as getting rid of unnecessary content in their correspondence. You can delete any file format - text messages, audio letters, photos and video files. To delete a photo in WhatsApp on Android, follow the prepared algorithm:
- Open the messenger, click on the tab at the top "Chats" .
- From the list, select the conversation in which you want to delete the photo. nine0017
- In a conversation, find an image to delete.
- Press it with your finger. Hold until the additional menu appears in the top panel.
- As soon as the icon "Trash" appears, you can mark other files that you want to delete.
- Tap on the basket, in the menu that opens, select the desired action. In our case, this is item "Delete for everyone" .
Please note! You can remove a photo from the correspondence at any time, but if you need to delete it from the recipient, do it in the first minutes after sending.
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You can only delete photo content from a contact if you sent it yourself. Moreover, this can be done while the button "Delete for everyone" is available. The photo that was sent to you can only be deleted from yourself. Your interlocutor will see him as before.
How to delete photos on iPhone for everyone
In general, the scheme for getting rid of media files is similar on phones of both operating systems. The interface of the messenger is almost the same. Let's give a sequence of actions. To delete a photo in WhatsApp for everyone on an apple device:
- Select the chat in which you want to remove the picture.
- Open a conversation and find an unwanted photo.
- Touch the image with your finger and hold for a few seconds.
- As soon as the context menu opens, click on item "Delete" .
- Select from the suggested options the button "At home and the interlocutor" .
By the way, even if you delete the WhatsApp application, the photo data will remain.
They will be stored in the "Photos" folder and occupy the device's memory. nine0004
How to clear WhatsApp storage and delete photos
Your smartphone may not have enough free space for the chat app to function properly. Usually the system sends a service message which is displayed on the screen. The overflow can be caused by the general accumulation of files in the smartphone, or the glut in the WhatsApp storage. Objects can be deleted from the latter through the search:
- Open the Chats tab . nine0016 Click on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner.
- Select Photos , or other media content. Each view has its own button.
- The most recent images will open, and just below all other images.
- Select the object you want to delete, the picture will open, click "More/Delete" .
- You can also remove all files from the chat by clicking on the checkbox "Delete media files in this chat" .
