WhatsApp update adds new 'storage management' tool to stop it taking up so much space on phones
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A new WhatsApp update is intended to stop it taking up quite so much space on your phone.
Because it is so easy to send pictures and videos over WhatsApp, and because those files are automatically saved when they are sent, the app can very quickly fill up a phone’s storage without its user even necessarily realising it.
The “storage management tool” allows users to find the unnecessary files that are clogging up the app – and the phone it is installed on – and delete them in bulk, saving space for more useful things.
The feature automatically generates cleanup options by looking for files that are particularly large, for instance, and allowing people to delete them. Users can also see files that have been forwarded many times, or sort them by size.
Users will be able to see a preview of the files they are deleting before doing so, and get rid of them in bulk or one-by-one.
The option can be found by heading to settings in the app, choosing the storage and data option, then clicking “manage storage”. The menus should then appear.
The feature will be rolling out to users this week, WhatsApp said.
While both iOS and Android offer ways to manage the files that are using up storage space across the whole phone, they do not offer quite such granular options, and it is more difficult to delete particular files.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments