How to clear WhatsApp storage: Step-by-step guide for Android and iPhones

Not enough space. Insufficient storage available. Storage full. This is among the most dreaded moments for every smartphone user. While brands have done a great job of offering more storage even on their base models, including Apple removing 64GB storage, the storage woes remain prominent, and often one of the major culprits is WhatsApp.

All the good morning messages, family group forwards, HD videos, and voice notes quietly take up space, and WhatsApp quickly transforms from a communication tool to a storage hog. Wondering how to fix this? Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to clear WhatsApp storage on Android and iPhone.

How to clear WhatsApp storage

The good news is that you don’t need to manually delete photos, videos, or large files from every chat to reclaim your phone storage. WhatsApp makes it easy to reclaim storage space with granular controls. Whether you’re on Android or iPhone, here’s how to clear WhatsApp storage:

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Step 1: Use WhatsApp’s built-in storage manager
This is the easiest way to clear WhatsApp storage, and here are the steps to follow:
1. Open WhatsApp on your phone
2. Head to Settings
3. Navigate to Storage and Data
4. Tap Manage Storage

WhatsApp will first show the storage used, available storage and offer a breakup of files, including large files and chats consuming the most space. You can click on each category to review and delete files selectively.

Step 2: Delete large files and forwarded media
The fastest way to clear WhatsApp storage is by deleting large files and forwarded media. Here’s how:
1. Inside Manage Storage, click on the “Larger than 5MB” category
2. Select multiple items
3. Hit the delete icon

Step 3: Clear media from individual chats
This option is best if you want to keep chats but remove large files. Here are the steps:
1. Open any individual or group chat
2. Tap the contact or group name at the top
3. Click Manage storage
4. This will show you how much space the chat’s media is taking up with files sorted from largest to smallest
5. Select multiple files at once and hit the delete icon

How to reduce storage on WhatsApp

While the easiest way to reclaim storage from WhatsApp is to delete large media and forwarded items, you can also reduce storage by following a few smart steps. Here’s how to reduce storage on WhatsApp:

Step 1: Turn off auto-download
1. Go to Settings
2. Click on Storage and Data
3. Under Media auto-download, disable auto-download for photos, audio, video, and documents. This will prevent WhatsApp from filling up your storage automatically

Step 2: Manage backups
1. Go to Settings
2. Click on Chats and tap Chat backup
3. Disable the toggle next to “Include videos” to help with local backup files

While these methods are the easiest and fastest way to manage WhatsApp storage, the real solution is ensuring that WhatsApp doesn’t become a storage hog over time. To do this, create a routine of analysing all the groups you are a member of and exiting inactive groups.

You should also avoid downloading HD media unless needed and delete unnecessary forwards. This will go a long way in saving your phone storage and also make the WhatsApp experience smoother.

In 2026, WhatsApp is not just a messaging app but a platform where you conduct payments and transact with businesses. This necessitates storage management and serves as a reason why WhatsApp offers granular storage management.

Taking a regular look at Storage Manager and disabling auto-downloads alone will reduce the clutter, but becoming proactive will make WhatsApp and your phone fast and zippy to use.