WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, with over 2 billion monthly active users. With so many photos, videos, documents and other media being sent through WhatsApp every day, many users wonder how WhatsApp storage works and where they can view their WhatsApp storage usage.
How WhatsApp Storage Works
When you send or receive photos, videos and other media over WhatsApp, that content is temporarily stored on your phone’s internal storage. Your conversations and media files that you exchange on WhatsApp are all stored in the app’s private database within your phone’s internal storage.
By default, WhatsApp will store data in your phone’s internal storage up to a certain limit. Once that storage limit is reached, WhatsApp will stop sending or receiving media until you clear up space. The limit varies by device based on the total internal storage capacity.
For Android phones, the WhatsApp media storage limit is typically set to occupy up to 12.5% of the total internal phone storage. So if you have 64GB of internal storage, WhatsApp can take up to 8GB before you need to clear space. For iPhones, the limit is more variable but typically ranges between 1-3GB.
In addition to media exchanged in chats, your WhatsApp data usage also includes things like your profile photo, any media files you download from WhatsApp contacts, cached data to improve app performance, and any backups stored on your device.
Where to View WhatsApp Storage Usage
You can check how much total storage WhatsApp is using through the app’s Settings menu:
On Android:
- Open WhatsApp and tap the 3-dot Menu button in the top right
- Go to Settings > Storage and data > Storage usage
This will show you a breakdown of the total storage used by WhatsApp and how much space is taken up by each type of media file.
On iPhone:
- Open WhatsApp and go to Settings
- Tap Storage and data > Manage storage
This shows a graph of your total WhatsApp storage usage along with options to view and delete large files, images, videos, and other media.
Managing WhatsApp Media Storage
If you’re getting notifications that your WhatsApp storage is full, there are a few ways to free up space:
- Delete large files – Look for and remove files over 5MB that you no longer need
- Delete media – Go through chats and delete photos, videos, and documents you don’t need to keep
- Clear cache – Deleting the cache can recover a few hundred MB of space
- Back up chats – Backing up to Google Drive or iCloud lets you remove WhatsApp data stored on your phone
- Expand storage – Upgrade to a phone with more internal storage capacity
- Use external storage – Move WhatsApp to an SD card (Android only) to free up internal storage
The WhatsApp FAQ also provides tips to manage storage on Android and manage storage on iPhone.
Using External SD Card Storage (Android Only)
On Android phones with an SD card slot, you can set WhatsApp to store media on your external SD card rather than internal phone storage:
- Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat backup
- Tap Change and select your external SD card
This will move your backup files and media attachments to the external SD card. Your actual WhatsApp app data and databases will still be stored internally, but this can free up a good amount of internal storage.
Viewing Storage Usage for Individual Chats
To see how much storage space is being used by a specific chat or group chat:
On Android:
- Open the chat
- Tap the name/photo at the top
- Tap Storage usage
On iPhone:
- Open the chat
- Tap the contact’s name at the top
- Scroll down and tap Storage Usage
This shows you exactly how much storage is being taken up by the media and files exchanged in that particular chat.
Reducing WhatsApp Storage Usage
In addition to deleting old media and moving backups, there are some other tips to reduce WhatsApp storage usage:
- Enable auto-download only on Wi-Fi to avoid using mobile data
- Disable auto-download for when roaming
- Delete read chats older than 1 year
- Turn off backup to Google Drive or iCloud
- Export chat history and delete chats
- Avoid forwarding large videos and files
- Compress photos and videos before sending
Enabling these options from WhatsApp Settings can help minimize the amount of media downloaded and saved automatically on your device.
Using WhatsApp Web to Clear Phone Storage
An easy way to view and clear WhatsApp media storage from your phone is to use WhatsApp Web.
WhatsApp Web mirrors the app content on your phone and gives you access to the same files and media. The advantage is you can view, download and delete this content easily from a computer browser vs. your small phone screen.
To use WhatsApp Web to clear phone storage:
- Go to web.whatsapp.com on your computer
- Use the QR code scanner to link your WhatsApp account
- Open individual chats and delete media files you no longer need
Any media you delete from WhatsApp Web will also delete it from your phone’s storage. This gives you an easy way to visually browse and mass delete unnecessary photos, videos and other files to free up phone storage.
Conclusion
WhatsApp storage usage continues to rise for many users as they exchange more photos, videos, documents and other media files. Thankfully WhatsApp provides tools to view your storage usage within the app and web browser. Setting auto-download preferences, deleting old media, moving backups and using WhatsApp Web are effective ways to manage, control and reduce your WhatsApp storage usage.