How to stop WhatsApp media from downloading automatically to save iPhone battery and memory
By default, WhatsApp preloads message attachments and media. Learn how to turn off these automatic downloads to save your iPhone’s battery and storage.
Unlike Telegram and other messaging apps, WhatsApp does not have a power saving mode. The software, owned by Meta, downloads photos, videos, and other attachments by default, so they’re ready when you open a message. Luckily, you can prevent WhatsApp from automatically downloading media and attachments.
This will reduce network and CPU load to save your iPhone battery and memory, which is better than nothing. Check out a quick overview of WhatsApp’s automatic media download settings and how to set them up to save battery.
How to turn off automatic media downloads in WhatsApp
You can change the automatic download settings for photos, videos, audio, and attachments in the “Storage & Data”section of WhatsApp settings.
- Open WhatsApp on your device.
- Tap the “Settings”tab at the bottom.
- Select Storage and data from the root list.
- Under the “Automatic Media Downloads”heading, set the “Photos”, “Audio”, “Videos”, and “Documents”option to “Never”, which will prevent these items from being preloaded.
To quickly return these media and attachment toggles to their defaults, click Reset Automatic Download Settings. Unfortunately, voice messages are always preloaded and there are no switches to change this behavior.
More tips on how to make WhatsApp use less power
The Storage & Data section provides additional toggles that can help reduce data and power consumption. For example, those who prefer to make voice calls via WhatsApp should turn off the “Use less data for calls”setting. This will use less data when making or receiving VoIP calls through WhatsApp at the expense of quality.
Also, people who send a lot of photos and videos to their WhatsApp friends on any given day should consider setting Media Upload Quality to Data Saver. The default settings labeled “Auto”tend to send larger images and higher quality videos that take longer to load, putting more strain on your iPhone’s battery.
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