WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps worldwide, with over 2 billion active users. However, a common complaint from many users is that WhatsApp takes up a lot of storage space on their phones – sometimes up to 20GB or more! This seems excessive, especially when the actual messages, photos, videos, and files exchanged on WhatsApp account for only a fraction of that storage space used.
In this article, we will explore the reasons why WhatsApp occupies so much storage, even when your actual WhatsApp data usage is relatively small. We’ll also provide tips on how to reduce the storage footprint of WhatsApp on your phone.
Reason 1: Media Caching
One of the biggest reasons Why WhatsApp takes up so much storage space is media caching. Whenever you receive or send photos, videos, GIFs, voice messages or other multimedia files on WhatsApp, these files get saved and cached locally on your phone’s storage.
This allows for faster loading and viewing of media when you open past chats and media on WhatsApp. However, with prolonged usage over time, this media cache can grow substantially in size, eating up a lot of your phone’s storage.
Some key facts about WhatsApp’s media caching:
- Photos and videos you receive are cached at their original file size and resolution.
- Voice messages are cached as MP3 files.
- WhatsApp will cache both sides of media exchanges – media you send and receive.
- The cache builds up incrementally with each media file exchanged.
- Cached media stays on your device even when you delete chats.
So even if you only share a few photos or videos actively on WhatsApp, you may accumulate hundreds or thousands of media files in your local WhatsApp cache over months or years of using the app. This cache can easily grow to gigabytes in size if left unchecked.
How much storage does WhatsApp media caching use?
To illustrate how media caching builds up, let’s consider an example:
| Media type | Size per file | # of files exchanged daily | Cache after 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photos | 2 MB | 10 | ~7 GB |
| Videos | 10 MB | 5 | ~18 GB |
| Voice messages | 1 MB | 20 | ~7 GB |
| Total | ~32 GB |
As you can see, even moderate daily usage can result in over 30GB of cached media after just a year! This simple example gives you an idea of how media caching gradually accumulates over time.
Reason 2: Chat Backups
WhatsApp gives you the ability to backup your chats to external storage or cloud services like Google Drive and iCloud. This can serve as a way to preserve your chat history even if you switch devices or reinstall WhatsApp.
However, these chat backups also take up storage space. Some points about WhatsApp backups:
- Backups include your entire message history including photos, videos and files.
- Backups also include your WhatsApp settings and profile data.
- Google Drive backups are incremental, but can still grow large over time.
- Local backups save to your device storage and can occupy GBs.
- You may accumulate multiple backups over time.
If you have chat backups enabled for WhatsApp, these can accumulate substantial storage space after months or years of use. This is especially true if you have large media files like photos and videos in your chat history.
How to reduce backup size
To limit how much storage WhatsApp backups consume, you can take these steps:
- Disable chat backups entirely if you don’t need them.
- Exclude large videos from Google Drive backups.
- Set Google Drive backups to periodic rather than daily.
- Delete old backups you no longer need.
- Disable local backups if using cloud backup.
Reason 3: Residual Cache Files
Over time, residual cache and temp files can also accumulate and take up storage space on your phone. These usually consist of:
- Temporary download files
- Partial update files
- Corrupted files
- Unused log files
Though small individually, collectively these residual files can occupy significant storage if not cleaned up. They are usually the product of interrupted updates, downloads, installations or data corruption on the app.
WhatsApp does not automatically delete these residual files. So they persist as hidden storage consumers that most users are unaware of.
How much storage do residual files use?
It’s difficult to estimate the size of residual files as it depends on your usage and interruptions. But as a rough guide:
| File type | Typical size range |
|---|---|
| Temporary download files | 50 KB – 150 MB |
| Partial update files | 100 KB – 250 MB |
| Corrupted files | 5 KB – 50 MB |
| Unused log files | 10 KB – 2 MB |
So while each file may be small, collectively they can easily occupy 100 MB to 1 GB of space or more.
Reason 4: App Caching and Data
Beyond media and backups, the WhatsApp app itself also caches data and files that consume storage space including:
- App cache containing UI elements and metadata.
- Crash logs and analytics data.
- Cached app code and libraries.
- Cached app user data and settings.
This app cache and data tends to grow over time with prolonged usage. Certain WhatsApp activities in particular contribute to the cache size increasing:
- Viewing lots of profiles/groups – caches profile photos
- Viewing media-heavy chats – caches media previews
- Frequent voice/video calls – caches call metadata
On most phones, the WhatsApp app cache can easily occupy 500 MB to 1 GB or more after months of heavy use.
How to clear the app cache
To clear the app cache:
- Go to your phone Settings > Apps > WhatsApp > Storage
- Tap Clear Cache to free up space used by the cache
However, this cache will start rebuilding as you continue using WhatsApp.
Reason 5: Saved Media and Files
Finally, any media or files you explicitly save from WhatsApp chats also consume storage space.
For example:
- Photos & videos saved to your gallery
- Voice messages saved as audio files
- Documents saved to your local storage
Depending on your usage habits, this locally saved content can occupy substantial storage, especially if you have the auto-save feature enabled for media.
Conclusion
In summary, WhatsApp’s large storage footprint is due to:
- Media caching – photos, videos, voice messages etc.
- Chat backups to the cloud or local storage
- Residual cache and temp files accumulation
- App caching and data
- Explicitly saved media and files
Combined, these factors can easily result in WhatsApp occupying up to 20GB or more of storage over time.
To reduce WhatsApp’s storage usage, make sure to:
- Disable chat backups or exclude large videos from backups
- Frequently clear the app cache and residual files
- Disable auto-saving of media if not needed
- Offload old chats to free up cache storage
With proper management, you can better optimize and restrict WhatsApp’s storage footprint without compromising your messaging experience.