Let’s see how to stop automatic media downloads on the WhatsApp app (Android device and iPhone).
I use Google Pixel 4a (Android 12) and iPhone X.
Turn Off Media Auto-Download on WhatsApp (iPhone)
Here are the steps:
Open the WhatsApp app.
Select “Settings” at the bottom, then “Storage and Data.”
You’ll see these options in the “Media Auto-Download” section:
- Photos
- Audio
- Video
- Documents
Choose one of them, and you’ll view these three options:
- Never – This disables auto-download of selected media. For example, if I choose “Never” for “Video,” WhatsApp will not auto-download the video.
- Wi-Fi – This only downloads selected media on a Wi-Fi connection.
- Wi-Fi and Cellular – This downloads selected media on Wi-Fi and mobile data.
Choose the one you prefer.
You can follow the steps above for other options in the “Media Auto-Download” section.
That’s all.
Check out the “How to Reset Auto-Download Settings” section if you’d like to reset these.
Read: How to Fix WhatsApp Media Not Downloading Issue
Stop Auto-Download on WhatsApp (Android Phone)
Here are the steps:
Open the WhatsApp app and tap three vertical dots in the upper right corner.
Select Settings > Storage and data.
You’ll see these three options in the “Media auto-download” section. Please view them below.
To turn off the auto-download of media on mobile data, select the “When using mobile data” option.
Deactivate the ones you don’t want to auto-download and tap “OK.”
To disable auto-download on Wi-Fi, select “When connected on Wi-Fi.” Uncheck the checkbox of your preferred ones and tap “OK.”
To cancel automatic downloads while roaming, select “When roaming.” Uncheck the desired ones and tap “OK.”
That’s it. From now on, tap the Download icon in the media files you receive to download them.
Check out the next section if you’d like to reset these.
See: How to Change Photo Upload Quality on WhatsApp
How to Reset Auto-Download Settings
You can reset it whenever you want, and here’s how on Android and iPhone:
iPhone
Tap the Settings tab at the bottom and select Storage and Data. Tap the Reset Auto-Download Settings option.
That’s all. Note that you already have default settings if you can’t tap on the option above.
Android
Unlike iPhone, there is no reset option for Android.
However, you can reset it by applying default settings manually. You can find them at the top of this section.
That’s it.
See: How to Reduce WhatsApp App Mobile Data Usage
Notes:
By default, WhatsApp automatically downloads:
- Photos on the mobile data connection.
- All media (Photos, audio, videos, and documents) on a Wi-Fi connection.
- Nothing on roaming. This one only applies to WhatsApp for Android.
Also, note these things:
- There is no option to stop voice messages from auto-download on WhatsApp.
- You can’t stop media auto-download on WhatsApp Web.
That’s it.
I hope this guide, “How to Stop Auto-Download in WhatsApp on iPhone and Android,” is helpful to you.
Thanks for reading.
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