WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the app’s key features is the ability to send and receive photos and videos. Over time, you may accumulate many media files sent via WhatsApp that you want to save or backup outside of the app.
Luckily, WhatsApp provides several straightforward ways to get pictures and other media off the app. In this article, we’ll walk through the main options for saving, downloading and backing up WhatsApp images and videos so you can access them outside the app.
Save Photos/Videos Individually
The easiest way to get individual WhatsApp photos or videos is to save them directly from the chat window. Here’s how:
- Open the WhatsApp chat containing the media you want to save.
- Tap and hold the photo or video thumbnail to open the full size image/video.
- Tap the download icon in the top right (it looks like a down arrow).
This will automatically save the photo or video to your device’s camera roll/gallery. You can then access it like any other image or video on your smartphone or tablet.
Save Multiple Photos/Videos
You can also save multiple WhatsApp media files to your device gallery at once:
- Open the WhatsApp chat with the media.
- Tap and hold one of the thumbnails, then tap “Select” or checkmark icon.
- Tap all the photos/videos you want to save.
- Tap the download icon at the top right.
This will save all the selected items to your camera roll at the same time.
Export Chat History
If you want to save the entire media history of a chat – photos, videos, GIFs, documents – you can export the whole conversation:
- Open the WhatsApp chat.
- Tap More Options > More > Export Chat.
- Choose whether to Include Media or not.
- Select the format to export to – Text (.txt) or HTML.
- Tap Export. The chat history and media will be exported to the Downloads folder on your device.
You can then access all the photos, videos, etc. sent in that chat from your device files.
Save to External SD Card
If your device has an SD card slot, you can set WhatsApp to automatically save media to your external SD card for easy backup:
- Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Media Auto-download.
- Tap “Save to:” and choose External SD Card.
From now on, any media sent to you on WhatsApp will be automatically stored on your SD card. Just move the card to another device to access the files.
Back Up to Google Drive
WhatsApp lets you create backups of your chat history and media to Google Drive. This provides an easy way to save and transfer your WhatsApp content.
To set up Google Drive backup:
- Open WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Backup.
- Tap Backup to Google Drive and choose a backup frequency (daily, weekly, etc).
- Log in to your Google account if prompted.
Your WhatsApp media will now be backed up automatically to your Google Drive account. You can restore these backups if you switch devices or reinstall WhatsApp.
Restore Google Drive Backup
To restore a Google Drive WhatsApp backup on a new device:
- Install WhatsApp.
- Verify your phone number.
- On the Back up found screen, tap Restore to restore your chats and media from Google Drive.
All your previous WhatsApp content, including photos and videos, will be downloaded to your new device.
Email Chat History
You can also email entire WhatsApp chats – including photos and videos – to yourself for backup:
- Open the WhatsApp chat.
- Tap More Options > More > Email Chat.
- Choose whether to Include Media.
- Enter your email address and tap Send.
The full chat including media will be emailed as a compressed .zip file attachment. You can save this to your computer for backup.
Zip and Extract Attachments
If you emailed a WhatsApp chat with media to yourself, open the message and save the .zip file attachment to your computer. To access the photos/videos:
- Open the .zip file.
- Extract/unzip the contents.
- The folder will contain all the media files from the chat.
You can now view, edit and manage the WhatsApp pictures and videos like any other files on your computer.
Save to Computer (Desktop App)
If you use WhatsApp Desktop for Windows or Mac, you can save chats and media directly to your computer:
- Open the chat you want to export.
- Click More Options > Export Chat.
- Choose whether to include media files.
- Select a folder on your computer to save the files.
The desktop app provides an quick and easy way to transfer WhatsApp chats and media to your computer for backup or sharing.
| Method | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Save individually | – Simple for one-off saves | – Time consuming for multiple files |
| Export chat | – Save entire chat history | – No selective file saving |
| Google Drive backup | – Automated backups | – Counts against Drive storage quota |
| Email chat | – Creates archive for storage | – Attachment size limits |
| Desktop app export | – Fast transfer to computer | – Need desktop app installed |
Conclusion
WhatsApp makes it simple to get your pictures, videos and media off the app for safekeeping and sharing. With options like Google Drive backup, local file saves and desktop transfers, you have plenty of ways to export your WhatsApp content.
The best method depends on your specific needs. Saving media individually is great for grabbing quick one-off files. Backups to Google Drive or email are better for batch exporting entire chat histories. And the desktop app lets you seamlessly transfer files to your computer.
Hopefully this guide has helped demystify the process of getting your WhatsApp media out of the app. With over 100 billion photos shared each year on WhatsApp alone, it’s important to know how to save and manage those memories and files off your phone. So try out some of these tricks the next time you want to keep your favorite WhatsApp pictures, videos, GIFs or documents for the long term.