So you can free up space on WhatsApp with the new ‘Manage storage’ tool

Without control, WhatsApp can monopolize a good part of the mobile storage. It has always been possible to clean WhatsApp manually, with apps or with the rudimentary storage tool. Now, WhatsApp launches a more advanced tool to clean up and free up space in WhatsApp files.

Everything you receive on WhatsApp is stored on your mobile, including the umpteenth copy of the trendy meme or that 5-minute video with a hilarious joke. With the new storage and data tool, it’s easier find the WhatsApp files that take up the most space and delete them to free up space.

How to free up space on WhatsApp easily

For a long time, WhatsApp has allowed you to see which conversations and groups are eating up the most storage, although the tool was a bit rudimentary. You should go conversation by conversation and mark which elements you wanted to delete (photos, videos, messages …) without actually being able to choose what you wanted to delete and what you wanted to keep.

The new tool is exactly where the old one was. First you must enter the WhatsApp settings, and then go to Storage and data and finally tap on Manage storage.

This is where the change becomes evident, with more data, a more visual design and different groups of elements that you might be interested in deleting: those that have been forwarded many times and those that are large.

• Forwarded many times. WhatsApp has long distinguished between normal messages, those that have been forwarded and those that have been forwarded many times. This also applies to photos and videos, and is actually a good way to filter out funny memes, videos, and voice memos that you might want to delete after you’ve viewed them.

• More than 5 MB (or other amount). Here you will find the photos, videos, files and voice messages that occupy the largest size and that, therefore, you can delete to free up space more quickly.

The main advantage of this new tool compared to the previous one is that you can select what you want to delete and what not, seeing a preview of what is what and with the possibility of sorting the results according to three criteria: first the most recent, the oldest or the largest.

The “old” WhatsApp storage tool is still there, just below the add-ons. You will see there the list of WhatsApp conversations that take up the most space on your mobile. By tapping on one of these chats, you will see the files of that conversation, showing the largest first.

The new tool, yes, only allows you remove media from a chat, and not text messages, contacts or locations, as was possible in the previous version. However, the space that these elements take up is much less than that of multimedia elements, and you can always delete chats manually, from the chat list.

In short, freeing up space on WhatsApp is easier than ever from the new Manage storage section. This is the complete process for delete WhatsApp photos or videos that are eating up your storage from your mobile:

• Tap on the menu button ⋮

• Go into Settings

• Tap on Storage and data

• Touch an Manage storage

• Go into Forwarded many times, More than 5 MB or in a conversation

• Select the photos, videos or files you want to delete (with a long touch)

• Press the trash button to delete them

Note that what you delete in WhatsApp is deleted forever and although there are ways to try recover deleted photos and videos from WhatsApp, they are not infallible. On WhatsApp there is no trash, so make sure to delete only what you will not miss.

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So you can free up space on WhatsApp with the new ‘Manage storage’ tool

was originally published in

Xataka Android

by
Ivan Ramirez

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