How to stop telegram from saving photos

How to Stop Telegram Saving Images to Your Phone Gallery

By Dan Price

Updated Feb 5, 2022

Here's how to stop Telegram from saving images to your phone's gallery, which is surprisingly easy to do.

Telegram is much better than WhatsApp in countless ways. For starters, it's not owned by Facebook, which is one of the largest advertising companies in the world. So that's a big plus.

As you'd expect, Telegram is packed with little tricks that make the messaging app even more enjoyable to use. One such feature is the ability to stop images you receive from being automatically saved to your phone's picture gallery. So, in this article, we explain how that works.

How to Stop Telegram From Saving Photos

2 Images

If your Telegram images are showing in your gallery and you don't want them to, it is possible to prevent the auto-download process.

To learn how to stop Telegram from saving photos, follow the simple step-by-step instructions below:

Open the Telegram app.
Tap on the three horizontal lines in the upper left-hand corner of the window.
In the new menu, select Settings.
Scroll down to the Chat Settings section.
Slide the toggle next to Save to Gallery into the Off position.

(NB: Changing this setting will not affect images that you have already downloaded onto your device.)

Unlike WhatsApp (which blurs images when you disable automatic downloads), you will still be able to see Telegram images on the screen in all their glory.

If you'd like to save a single picture to your gallery, open the image and tap on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner. In the pop-up menu, choose Save to Gallery.

Remember, this is not the only feature where Telegram eclipses WhatsApp. There are lots of reasons why you should try Telegram today—including a seemingly endless list of high-quality features.

Why You Should Stop Telegram Images Showing in the Gallery

We know what some of you are thinking: what is the point of turning off this feature? Well, there are two main reasons. Firstly, privacy—some people might send images that you are not comfortable saving into your photo reel for all eternity.

And secondly, storage space. Phone storage can fill up quickly. By disabling stop Telegram images saving in the gallery, you can make sure that you're using your storage for images you care about.

Subscribe to our newsletter

How to Stop Telegram from Saving Photos and Videos

Telegram is one of the best WhatsApp alternatives out there. Unlike WhatsApp, the media upload size on Telegram isn’t capped at 25MB. One can send up to 2GB of video over Telegram chat. Telegram also boasts superior group functionality over WhatsApp. Because of these, if you are not careful, you might end up with tons of photos and videos from Telegram in your gallery. Here’s how to avoid such a situation and stop Telegram from saving photos and videos on Android and iPhone.

People often share media files over messaging apps like Telegram and Signal. However, with specific auto-download options in Telegram, you can ensure that not every photo or video gets auto-downloaded in the background and lands in the device storage.

Telegram Android App

First, let’s talk about the Telegram Android app and stop the Telegram auto-download in the background.

How to Stop Telegram Auto-Download on Android

Step 1: Open Telegram on your Android phone.

Step 2: Tap on the hamburger menu and go to Settings.

Step 3: Go to Data and Storage > Automatic media download.

Here, you have two options. First, you can define rules for auto-media download for the mobile data and Wi-Fi connection. Secondly, for a tight mobile data plan, you can disable automatic media download by disabling ‘When using mobile data.’

You can also customize which type of media files you want to keep on auto-download using mobile data.

Those using Telegram on an unlimited Wi-Fi plan can keep the automatic media download toggle on.

Stop Telegram from Saving Photos on Android

The above options only talk about automatic media download on mobile data and Wi-Fi. What about stopping those downloaded photos and videos in the phone gallery? For that, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Open Telegram on your Android phone and go to Settings.

Step 2: Go to Chat Settings and scroll down to the bottom.

Step 3: Disable ‘Save to Gallery.’

That’s it. From now on, you won’t see downloaded media files saving themselves in the gallery app automatically.

Telegram App for iPhone and iPad

Telegram’s iPhone app is feature-rich as well. Some of the options are placed in different menus than the Android counterpart. Let’s disable auto-download on Cellular and Wi-Fi connection in the Telegram app.

How to Stop Telegram Auto-Download on iPhone

Step 1: Open the Telegram app on the iPhone and go to Settings.

Step 2: Open Data and Storage and make necessary changes in the Automatic Media Download menu.

Tip: Telegram allows you to send up to 2GB of video or file in the chat. Just because someone has sent you 2GB of a file, you shouldn’t download the whole file/video automatically in the background. From the Auto-Download Media menu, you can put a limit on maximum video and file size to be automatically downloaded in the background.

GT team members mostly disable Auto-Download Media toggle for Cellular data and keep it enable when using Telegram on Wi-Fi.

As mentioned in the tip above, we appreciate how Telegram allows users to cap the auto-download media to specific MBs. It ensures that you don’t run out of data on Wi-Fi either.

Stop Telegram from Saving Photos on iPhone

You can stop saving incoming photos from certain chats, groups, and channels on the Telegram iPhone app. Here’s how.

Step 1: Open the Telegram iPhone app and go to Settings.

Step 2: Navigate to Data and Storage > Other > Save Incoming Photos.

Step 3: Disable Save Incoming Photos from Contacts, Other Private Chats, Group Chats, and Channels.

The background downloading in the Telegram iPhone app works slightly differently from Android. When the app isn’t in use, it won’t continue to download large video files in the background. To overcome the limit, you can toggle on ‘Background Download’ from the Settings menu.

Open Telegram Settings and go to Data and Storage > Other > Background Download and keep it on. The app will continue downloading media files for a limited time.

Clear Telegram Cache

Over time, your Telegram account fills your phone storage with a lot of photos and videos. If you have auto-download enabled, the app will continue to save those files in the app. This results in a huge app cache and takes up a good amount of space on the phone.

Thankfully, Telegram allows you to clear app cache from the Settings menu. The steps to clear the Telegram cache are the same on both the iPhone and Android app. Here, we are using the iPhone app for demonstration.

Step 1: Open Telegram on your phone and go to Settings.

Step 2: Move to Data and Storage > Storage Usage.

Step 3: From the device storage menu, you will notice the ‘Clear Telegram Cache’ option.

Tap on it, select the type of files you want to remove, and hit the Clear button at the bottom.

Disable Auto-Save on Telegram

Telegram’s generous 2GB limit for media files is a boon for many out there. At the same time, it can be a cumbersome experience for the receiving person. Make the necessary changes from the Auto-download menu and stop saving photos automatically in the gallery app.

Next up: The default iPhone video player doesn’t support all the video files received from Telegram. Read the post below to learn the top two ways to watch videos downloaded from Telegram on iPhone.

How to disable autosaving of Photos and Videos in Viber, WhatsApp and Telegram on iPhone

It is not often these days you will meet an active user who does not have an icon of any messenger or VoIP client on the smartphone desktop. Indeed, programs such as Viber, Telegram or WhatsApp not only diversify communication between people, but also help to significantly save on cellular services.

Apple in Telegram and YouTube. Subscribe!

♥ RELATED: Why most iPhone and iPad users need to disable iCloud backups.

However, there are a number of inconveniences associated with the use of instant messengers, for example, saving images from chats to the standard iOS application Photos, which not only forces the user to perform unnecessary actions to delete unnecessary pictures, but also consumes the device's physical memory.

In addition, mobile traffic is also not free, which means that especially sociable users should think about saving it. Therefore, most applications provide special options for this.

♥ RELATED: How to send a message in invisible ink on your iPhone or iPad.

How to disable autosave of Photos and Videos in WhatsApp

Go to the settings section (the button in the lower right corner of the screen) and select the item “ Chats" , in which it is necessary to deactivate the switch "To Camera Roll" .

In addition, the settings section " Data and storage" may be useful. There is a category Media Startup , which sets limits for the processing of various files (excluding voice messages) depending on the type of current Internet connection.

For example, you can allow the download of photos and documents on any connection, while prohibiting the processing of audio and video recordings using the mobile Internet. In addition, there is a function " Data saving ", which will allow you to spend less traffic when making calls.

♥ BY TOPIC: How to quickly translate websites (web pages) in Safari on iPhone and iPad: 3 ways.

Here, in addition to switch "Save to Gallery" (save to the Photos app) there are also options for automatic download in mobile networks ( "Auto download of content" ), as well as settings for automatic video playback and the option to limit traffic in mobile networks. The latter will affect the quality of the connection when making calls.

♥ BY TOPIC: The iPhone and iPad file manager it should be: Readdle's Documents review.

How to disable autosave of Photos, Videos, voice messages and files in Telegram

The Telegram application does not allow you to automatically save incoming data to the Photos application, but at the same time it provides ample opportunities for setting up automatic content upload to the messenger itself.

To configure automatic upload of photos, videos, voice messages and files in Telegram, go to section Settings → Data and memory . There are two sections here: " Via mobile network" and "Via Wi-Fi" , which contain the auto-download settings for all files in the application.

If you set the switch "Download automatically" to the position "On" , you will be able to set the automatic download of content according to various scenarios, for example, photos and videos only from contacts or in other private chats when using Wi-Fi. Fi or via mobile connection.

If the switch "Download automatically" is deactivated, all incoming data (photos, videos, voice messages and files) will need to be downloaded manually by pressing the arrow button.

Telegram settings also allow you to reduce traffic consumption, as well as enable or disable automatic playback of GIF animations and video clips.

♥ BY TOPIC: How to connect a regular USB flash drive to an iPhone or iPad.

Disable automatic saving of photos and videos Telegram - (March 31)

Telegram has the ability to upload various types of documents, as well as photos and videos. Thus, you can open and save different types of videos and photos of different quality; That is why it is one of the most famous online platforms that not only allows users to send and receive various types of messages, but also to share any data and files they need. However, soon after installing this app on your smartphone or desktop, you will realize that the auto-download and auto-save feature of Telegram photos and videos in the gallery might bother you.

In this article, you will read the causes of such failures and the steps to disable the autosave feature. Please note that it is necessary to know the various aspects and features of Telegram if you want to enjoy it.

Why disable autosaving of photos and videos in Telegram?

There are several reasons to disable autosaving of Telegram photos and videos in the gallery. First, your device may not have enough space for additional media. After a while, your device memory may run out of a huge amount of photos and videos. Smartphones work in such a way that full memory can disrupt their operation. Therefore, it is important to avoid saving unnecessary photos and videos.

Suggest an article: Disable automatic file uploads in Telegram

Another way that makes you disable the autosave feature in Telegram is that you are definitely not interested in all the media shared on Telegram. Sometimes you're in a group or channel that you don't like all media and need certain photos or videos to open. In other words, the content of some media files may be inappropriate and you don't want them in your gallery.

The last reason to disable Telegram's autosave feature is a security issue. Sometimes hackers create surveillance algorithms on some media that can only be active when the file is opened. Therefore, it is recommended to disable this Telegram feature as soon as you create a Telegram account. If you want to buy Telegram members or post views at low cost and high quality, just contact us now.

How to stop autosave in Telegram?

Disabling autosave for photos in Telegram or videos in Telegram is not at all a complicated process. To do this, you must follow a few simple steps in the Telegram app. You can do this if you go through the setup of this app and click on the "Data and Storage" section. However, disabling this feature is different on different types of devices. That is why in the following paragraphs you will learn how to disable autosave in Telegram.

Stop autosave in Telegram

Stop Telegram from saving photos and videos on Android

If you are using Telegram on an Android smartphone, to prevent Telegram from saving media files, you should:

Open the Telegram app.
Tap the menu in the left corner of the screen.
Go to "Settings".
Click Data and Storage, and then select automatic media downloads.
Here you have two ways to choose: first define some restrictions on Telegram's autosave feature; for example, disable this feature whenever you are connected to Wi-Fi. The second way you can choose is to disable Telegram from the autosave feature anyway. You can also customize the type of documents and media you want to avoid automatic saving.

How to stop Telegram auto download on iPhone

To disable auto download and auto save media on iPhone, iOS and iPad, you'd better follow the instructions below:

Launch the Telegram app on your iPhone.
Then select a setting and click on it.
After that, select "Data and storage" to configure changes to the autosave feature.
You can disable saving media files from contacts, private chats, group chats, and channels.

By following these simple steps, you will no longer be able to automatically save media files in Telegram.

Stop automatic saving of media on the Telegram desktop

Although you have more space on the Telegram desktop to save media files, you may not want to save them for two other reasons. Because of this, you can disable this feature on the Telegram PC by following these steps:

Open the Telegram desktop app.
In the upper left corner, click on the hamburger menu.
In the sidebar, select the Setup option.
Click "Advanced" whenever the following screen opens.
It's time to find "Automatic media download".
You can select autosave options one by one; for example, "In private chats", "In groups" and "In channels".
Learn more